Home Care Services: 4 Tips When Your Senior Doesn’t Want Any Help

Home Care Services: When your elderly family member has told you no over and over when it comes to assistance, what can you do?


Drill Down to What’s Really Going On

If your elderly family member has declined help from you and from home care services, it’s important to understand why. There can be some very specific reasons that she’s telling you that she doesn’t want help. These can range from simply feeling she doesn’t need help to being embarrassed about being in a situation where she does need to rely on others. There can be a lot of emotions behind her reaction, so it helps to listen with an open mind and an open heart to what she’s telling you.


Find out What Help She Will Accept

It’s possible that you’ve offered specific types of help and that’s primarily what your elderly family member has turned down. So step back and take a different look at the situation. If she’s not open to the types of help you’ve offered, are there forms of assistance that she will accept? Your senior may need time to get used to even having assistance at all, much less having home care providers there ready to offer whatever help she wants. Start small and work your way up.


Look at How You’re Offering

This isn’t always easy to believe, but sometimes how you’re offering help to your elderly family member is what’s contributing to the breakdown. For instance, if she feels like you’re telling her something or dictating to her, that’s likely not going to go over well. It’s less about how you think you’re approaching the situation and more about how she feels it’s coming across. It’s important to really look at your own approach and see how you can improve it.

Home Care Services: Do What You Can to Give Your Senior Options

The one thing that can make all of this worse is for your senior to feel as if she has no options and no control whatsoever. Even if she does require far more help than she realizes, forcing her to accept it without giving her as many choices as possible is just going to make the situation feel worse. If hiring home care services is inevitable, do what you can to offer choices for your senior along the way. Involve her in the decision-making process with elder care so that she continues to feel involved.


It’s really complicated to sometimes understand what’s behind your senior’s refusal to accept help, even if it’s obvious that she needs that help.

If you or an aging loved-one is considering hiring Home Care Services in Greeley, CO, please contact the caring staff at Touching Hearts at Home today at 303-255-4071.

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