When it comes to the term elder care, there are many things I consider to be important. Because at some stage, we’re all going to be in the need of care, whether we are currently young or old. Working in care is not always easy. Nowadays, there’s always a discussion about time. We’re trying to squeeze the time limits, but at what price?

My experience

Care nurses working in elder care are under a lot of time pressure. When doing home visits there isn’t enough time. In the UK, they schedule home visits as short as 15 minutes, and that’s not the only country doing this. I was a care assistant myself, working in Uddevalla, Sweden. I do know it’s hard to manage time when you only get 15-20 minutes for a home visit. We should be thinking about the wellbeing of the elderly, rather than shortening visits.

Sure, they get the help they need, but what about the social aspect? When doing home visits, I tried hard to have at least a few minutes just to sit down and have a talk with my patients, and when I did, they always told me how grateful they were. Still, it wasn’t always possible for me to make that extra time.

Conclusion

SocksOn is a great example of an excellent dressing aid that will save you some time. Everyone who has ever tried to put on compression socks knows it can be a bit tricky, at least I do! I was putting on and taking off about 5-10 pairs every day. By using SocksOn, the patients can put their compression socks on themselves while you get started on making breakfast.

Every single minute is valuable and finding those extra minutes is something I believe could decrease the loneliness among the elderly. Why? Because there would be more personal time, time to talk about their family, what they’re going to do this weekend or just what’s on their mind.

Finding chores the elderly can do without help also gives them the feeling of being independent. That’s what we really should be trying to achieve, rather than schedule more home visits to different people when the schedule is already filled up.

So, what can we do to make elder care better?

1. Stay positive. Be happy and smile, you might be the only person to pay a visit today. Make sure you make their day a good one.
2. Find those extra minutes. Use all the time-saving tricks you have. You can’t have too many extra minutes that you couldn’t spare for a little chat.
3. Freedom. Let the elderly do what they can do themselves. Even though they have home care, doing this can make them feel a bit more like they’re living independently.

Image credit: myfuture.com