Is Assisted Living in Louisiana the Solution to Your Long-Distance Caregiving Stress?
If you don’t live a few minutes away from your senior loved one (and most adult children don’t), you can find yourself attempting to coordinate support and care from a distance. No matter if you live a few towns over or across the country, you’re considered a long-distance caregiver, which means you might be spending a lot of time on the phone or online searching for – and scheduling – support services for your loved one.
Long-distance caregivers can still easily experience caregiver burnout, a phenomenon that has been linked to increased mental and physical health complications among those in a caregiving role. Fortunately, it’s never too late to reduce the stress that comes with long-distance caregiving. This is where assisted living in Louisiana can come into play.
The right assisted living community can provide the support your loved one needs, as well as take many tasks off of your caregiver to-do list. What is the right assisted living community, and is assisted living in Louisiana the solution to your long-distance caregiver stress?
Physician Follow Up and Communication
Assisted living communities not only have caregivers available around the clock to offer support with activities of daily living, but the communities also have nurses on staff who are there to serve as liaisons between the senior and their team of physicians. This means that you won’t have to be as involved with physician phone calls in case your loved one has a question or is feeling ill. Instead, the assisted living staff will follow up appropriately to ensure the health of your loved one.
In addition, team members will get to know your loved one and will be with them daily making observations about their health. Team members will note when something seems “off” and document it for follow-up. This can lead to quicker intervention and better health outcomes.
Healthy and Delicious Meals
Long-distance family caregivers can often find themselves scouring the internet for local resources that will supply healthy meals to their loved one. In assisted living, dining is an integral service that all residents enjoy three times daily. Meals are served in a social dining room setting, and chefs follow prescribed diets as well as resident suggestions and requests.
Positive Socialization
If you live far away from your loved one, you might worry that they don’t get enough socialization in their daily lives. Positive socialization and connections with peers (not just family members) have been linked with lower rates of depression, anxiety, and memory loss. In addition, socially connected seniors also tend to have longer lifespans than their isolated peers.
You can set that worry aside if your loved one moves to an assisted living community. Communities are bustling with activity, and neighbors quickly become friends after attending events with one another, connecting over a meal, or chatting in any of the community’s shared spaces.
Transportation
Scheduling and confirming transportation for a senior loved one is a task that a long-distance caregiver can complete via phone call, but it can be time-consuming. It can also be frustrating as appointments change or if the appointment runs late. Assisted living communities take care of transportation for residents, with many communities having their own car or bus to shuttle residents to and from medical appointments or other errands.
Regular Updates and Family Involvement
Finally, family caregivers are never left out of community communication. Assisted living communities host regular care plan meetings where team members gather to update family members in person or over the phone. These meetings ensure everyone is on the same page, including the senior, as well as to set wellness goals and answer any questions.
Assisted living in Louisiana can be the answer to your long-distance caregiving stress. Amenities and services benefit every resident, as well as the family members who care about them. Contact us to learn more about Stiles Assisted Living.