Taking care of the elderly without visiting them in this Pandemic

We know that the coronavirus outbreak poses health risks for everyone, officials have made clear that the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Nursing homes and senior communities have been hit the hardest by covid-19 pandemic. Now, nursing homes and other elderly care facilities are putting strict restrictions in place to limit if not eliminate residents’ risk of exposure to the virus. Officials have also encouraged to limit social contacts for elderly staying at home.

There are certain precautionary measures that are taken for the well-being of our senior citizens. They are likely to put strain on families and friends who not only are eager to stay in contact with their loved ones, but are also constantly worried about their health.

If an elderly loved one does find themselves in a quarantine situation, or under self-isolation, it’s important to maintain contact with them and clearly explain to them what’s happening and why. When an elderly person sees that nobody comes to visit them anymore, they might say, ‘they forgot me and I just don’t exist.’ But if they could be helped to see that it’s a temporary condition and it is done because they are cared for, because they are very important and it is solely to protect them.

There are ways to stay in touch with elderly loved ones and care for them without putting their lives in harm’s way.

While experts acknowledge that older people are more susceptible to falling severely ill or even dying from COVID-19, they stress that social interaction is crucial to their mental and physical health.

Social interactions are very important and especially when you are an elderly person living alone or away from your family in a healthcare facility. These are tough times no doubt. When paying a visit to your elderly loved ones can cost them dearly it is better to go back to the old-fashioned ways of communication. It essentially means making phone calls more frequently. This is the age of technology and thanks to the technological advances of 21^st century we can now not only talk to a person who is miles away from us but we can see them as if they were sitting right in front of us. It doesn’t have to be a simple video call. You can add your other family members to the call and simply make it a family reunion videoconference. There are even captioned video calls available for those have hearing impairments. Just because you can’t visit your loved ones it shouldn’t mean that you lose contact with them altogether. They now need you more than ever. Experts say that you should stay in touch with them to keep them from being depressed. Phone calls, video calls and videoconference calls solve the problem of keeping in touch with them at all times.

How can you take care of them without physically visiting them? There are a lot of online services these days that take care of this issue in a very elegant way and without putting their lives at risk. There are delivery services likes flowers and groceries and not mention the good old mail services. A hand written note to your loved ones goes a long way. Hand written notes show that you really care for them and they are always in your thoughts. One of the best things about mail is that they can read it over and over again. It will remind them that there are people who care a lot about them. These small things can keep our elderly loved ones happy and far away from depression even in these testing times.

Not just the adults should avoid visiting their elderly loved ones but also the children. Elderly have weakened immune systems, and children are usually full of germs as they like to play outside. They also don’t take as much as care as an adult does. So, children should also avoid visiting their older relatives.

We, at Kandakacare are fully aware of the situation. We know that you love your family. We know you love your elderly very much. That’s why we offer a number of servicer where you can take care of them without physically visiting them and let them know that they are not forgotten.