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Home » Are You Ready to Be a Caregiver?
Somewhere in the back of your mind, you might have already known that you would take care of your aging adult someday. But if that day is approaching much more quickly than you expected, you might need to work out some of these answers for yourself about being a caregiver.
Determine How Much Care Your Senior Needs
At this stage of the game, you need to know exactly what type of care your senior needs. Does she need help after a surgery that her doctor believes will leave her in better shape than before the operation? Or is she experiencing debilitating health issues that require constant care? This is a big difference and might cause you to have to make some big decisions.
Assess Whether You’ll Need to Relocate
How far away do you live from your aging adult right now? If you live in the same town, you may not be nearly as concerned about this factor as you would be if you lived a few states away. If you’re far away, home health care providers can be the answer to a big problem for you. Even if you live next door, though, home health care providers can help you to get a handle on your senior’s needs.
Determine How Caregiving Will Affect Your Job
It’s highly likely that you’ve got your own career to manage right now and caregiving can take up quite a bit of your time. If that’s going to affect your job, you need to know now. Your employer may have some options for you, so it’s important to have a clear picture of what’s facing you and your aging adult.
Figure out How Your Own Health Will Fare
What about your own health right now? Do you have your own health issues, or are you in great shape? Caregiving takes an emotional and physical toll on you, even when you’re doing everything that you can to take better care of yourself. If you don’t have a solid plan for keeping yourself as healthy as possible while you take care of your senior, you may run into some big problems pretty quickly.
There’s a point at which you may find yourself dealing with an emergency introduction to caregiving, of course. But if you do have a little bit of time to consider the situation before diving in, you need to gather as much information as you possibly can.