Blog > How Can In-home Care Help Seniors with Arthritis Age in Place?

How Can In-home Care Help Seniors with Arthritis Age in Place?

May is National Arthritis Awareness Month and if your elderly family member has arthritis, it is really important to understand how the condition impacts her ability to do what she wants to do, including age in place. It’s entirely possible that your senior can stay in her home, even with severe arthritis, but it’s important that she has help. In-home care offers all the help she will need with managing her arthritis and more.

Managing Mobility Issues

Moving around, and doing so safely, is important for any senior who wants to age in place. Mobility can encompass more, though. With severe enough arthritis, your elderly family member may not be able to drive any longer, which can be difficult for her to face emotionally. In-home care providers can make mobility easier for your senior.

Personal Care Tasks

As arthritis gets worse, your elderly family member may find that it’s difficult to do activities she’s done all of her life, like brushing her teeth and getting dressed. It can be embarrassing to not be able to do these things any longer, though. Home care providers can assist your aging family member with personal care tasks, offering as much or as little help as she needs.

Handling Routine Chores

Keeping up with her home and its needs is a big deal for your senior if she’s planning to age in place for as long as possible. With arthritis becoming more of a challenge, she may find that those routine tasks feel like something she just can’t do any longer. In-home care providers can assist with light housekeeping tasks, running errands, and making sure that your senior is eating healthy meals.

Offering Companionship

Arthritis can sometimes mean that your elderly family member just isn’t up for some of the same social activities that she used to enjoy. That doesn’t mean that your aging family member doesn’t need or want that social engagement. Elderly care providers can offer not only assistance with daily life, but also companionship to help your senior to avoid feeling lonely and isolated.

Resting When Necessary

Knowing when she can push herself and when she needs to rest is crucial for your elderly family member if she wants to stay where she is for as long as possible. In-home care providers help to make sure that your senior can rest when she needs and wants to but still have her needs met. This is absolutely a crucial part of keeping her in a position to be able to make her own choices about when or if she needs to move. Ideally, she’ll be able to stay right where she is because she has the right help to do so safely.

As your elderly family member’s arthritis continues to be a big part of her everyday life, you and she may need to talk about the different ways in which home care services can continue to help her to meet her goals. And if aging in place is still her main goal, there’s a lot that in-home care can do for her.