Four Ways to Get through to a Senior Who Is Refusing Help
It’s frustrating to try to offer your senior all sorts of different types of help and to have her refuse them. There may be some reasons that she feels are valid for turning down this help, but until you both dig down into those reasons, you may not be able to figure out how to get around them.
Home Care Services in Maumelle AR: Senior Assistance Refusal
Talk about Your Senior’s Goals
Your senior very likely has some goals that she would like to meet, such as aging in place or improving certain health issues. Having some types of assistance, both from you and from others can help her to meet those goals. She may think that she can get there on her own, but it will be easier for her if she does have help.
Address How She Can Meet those Goals
Once you’ve got a list of goals, it’s time to work out what you and your senior can start doing now to help her to get closer to those goals. For instance, in order to help her to age in place, you may need to make some safety adjustments around her home or help her with transportation. Talking through the goals and how to meet them can help your senior start thinking about the logistics.
Ask Why She Feels so Strongly about Refusing Help
Your senior may have some reasons for not wanting help. She might feel that accepting help makes her look more vulnerable than she is. Or perhaps she worries that accepting help means that she can’t maintain her independence. It’s important that you’re able to dig down to the feelings and the reasons beyond her refusal of help so that you can address them for her.
Discuss What Help Really Means
You might have different ideas about what this help means than your senior does. She might worry that transportation help means that she can never drive again. So if your intent is to hire elderly care providers to drive for her when the weather is bad, you need to spell that out for her. This can help her to be more accepting of help when she truly needs it.
This may be something that you need to revisit with your aging adult a few more times. The key is going to be following through as much as possible with your promises. And if you can’t, you need to be able to tell her why it wasn’t possible to do so.
Are you or a loved one considering Home Care Services in Maumelle, AR? First Choice Senior Care can help. Serving all of Little Rock and Central Arkansas.
Please call and talk to our caring staff today. (501) 916-9307
Kayla believes in advocating for and educating seniors and their families on a variety of topics and issues that impact them.Reflecting on the need for an independent home care provider interested in quality over quantity, she chased her dream of building her own company that would make a significant difference in the lives of seniors, providing a much-needed service in her own local community.
Kayla holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Arkansas State University, is licensed by the state of Arkansas as a Long-Term Care Administrator, and is a Certified Senior Adviser.
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