Independence means something different at different ages. Independence for seniors doesn’t mean doing everything themselves, but it does mean being able to make day to day decisions, remaining connected to the community, and being able to take care of themselves without burdening others. What’s surprising is how many of those signs of independence are actually enabled by little things rather than big things.
Independence is generally a big deal. Can the person drive? Do they need help bathing? Can they do their finances? While these are all things that matter, they are not the only markers of independence. Independence is actually a gray area that exists between needing nothing and needing help with everything, and little things have a big impact on independence for seniors in that gray area.
Why Transportation Shapes Everything Else
Transportation for errands and appointments is essential for many of the other markers of independence. When seniors can no longer drive, they generally find alternative means of transportation to get what they need. When they are still able to do that, they begin losing the ability to make independent decisions for themselves. For example, if a senior can still take a bus or an Uber but can no longer drive, they still remain relatively self-sufficient but begin relying more heavily on their family for transportation when that ability disappears.
Medical appointments are another aspect of independence that transportation has a huge impact on. Even well-intentioned children have busy lives, and multiple medical appointments can stack up quickly. What happens when someone misses their appointment, though? Their health changes for the worse slowly but surely. Inevitably, children become the default when it comes to bringing seniors to their appointments; however, parents may not always have the time needed to dedicate to this. This can lead to excuses, skipped appointments, and potential disasters.
Medical appointment transportation services are professional transport services for seniors needing a ride to their medical appointments. An example of this is this Medical Appointment Transport in Philadelphia service. Such places keep seniors from needing to rely on family to provide this regularly while ensuring that they are able to continue to receive the medical appointments they need to maintain their independent lifestyles. These drivers are familiar with the seniors’ mobility issues and their appointments and always get them exactly where they need to be.
The Meal Situation That Nobody Talks About
Eating is another portion of independence that can start slipping quickly as people get older. Preparing meals isn’t always easy; preparing meals for one takes as much time as preparing meals for an entire family. It also requires the same knowledge of food safety preparation and cooking. After years of cooking all day, opening a jar of spaghetti sauce can be a lot easier.
Food preparation seems like it shouldn’t be an issue; however, it becomes exhausting for seniors because of a variety of physical factors working against them. It becomes physically harder and more exhausting for seniors to stand over the stove for long periods and prepare elaborate meals. It becomes physically exhausting to go grocery shopping. So, it’s easier to just start skipping meals. As this happens, people change what they eat regularly and meal preparation habits also change. If a senior starts skipping breakfast, lunch can quickly become another meal skipped.
Issues tend to snowball rather than exist in a vacuum. Skipping meals can lead to meals being replaced with easy-to-open and eat packaged foods instead of those that require preparation. This can quickly turn into food that only requires warming up in a microwave and before long all meals become replaced with a foods that only need to be warmed up in the microwave. This can lead to unexpected weight loss when there’s no food available or unexpected weight gain when seniors eat whatever is available instead of what they need.
Meal delivery services have become popular for people to consistently receive delivered meal kits, but meal preparation services once a week or twice a week can also help seniors keep food available for themselves.
See also: The Health Risks That Sneak Up on Seniors (And How to Stay Ahead of Them)
Home Maintenance and the Exhaustion Factor
Home ownership requires constant upkeep and home repairs help keep seniors in their homes, but if they don’t have help with maintenance, issues can build up over time. Issues like changing light bulbs constantly, changing batteries, changing furnace filters, changing air filters can all start building up and become overwhelming if there’s no one who can help them with this! Simple handyman issues can also make a difference but it’s also essential to keep someone who lives alone from needing assistance with large chores over a long period of time.
While mowing the lawn can seem like a simple chore, it becomes increasingly exhausting over time and one of the biggest issues is that the level of exhaustion increases when the chores become repetitive over time. While mowing the lawn may seem like it wouldn’t be an issue for a senior citizen who is now 75 years old, it takes much more energy for them now than when they were only 55 years old.
Instead of spending an hour completing the task and then going about their day, mowing the lawn now may take them all day – not just to mow the lawn but also to recuperate. Seniors can still accomplish all these tasks but why should they have to use their energy in addition to accomplishing everything else?
Having a handyman nearby who can keep track of the little things can help seniors not feel so overwhelmed!
Technology and Staying Connected
Staying connected to family and friends is essential and decreasing isolation protects against one of two leading factors in deaths among seniors – depression. However maintaining these connections becomes more challenging over time as well.
Losing connection with other people is easier than one might think when seniors don’t know how to use iPhones or Facetime or WhatsApp. Seniors who used to be avid texters now have lost the ability to text because they don’t have an iPhone. Paying bills online? Forget about it!
iPads can be handy if used with easy-to-learn apps but become more complicated than anyone imagined if they’ve never used a smartphone before so slowly people lose connection and isolation increases.
Patiently helping seniors remain connected via technology makes a massive difference, but it also helps when someone nearby can show older people how to do something instead of reading instructions over the phone.
Medication Management Without Constant Supervision
Seniors also need help managing medications over time. This requires a whole other level of organization when keeping track of medication times, seniors need to manage this type of change on their own as well.
Medication management can make seniors remain independent at home without needing someone actively watching them take their medications.
What All This Actually Means
Lot of little things add up to maintain independence but it also lessens the burden and also keeps family members from burning out watching every move these seniors make everywhere they go.
These little things are not isolated though; they are connected to one another as they allow someone to be transported; keeping them healthy allows them to move around and have more energy whereas technology keeping someone less isolated allows them keeps seniors connected instead of feeling so disconnected which causes depression.
Families who understand this “big” picture can make small adjustments as needed versus barriers keeping seniors with their families longer as family members doing what they do best – focusing on connections rather than tasks! This keeps everyone happier!
