Pat Faust, Wellness Wishes' very own Director for Successful Senior Aging, has had a busy year so far in 2020! In today's blog she discusses some of the realities in dealing with a parent that is aging.
Below, you'll find some links to a podcast Pat did for Boomer Living TV about senior living.
Another thing to be conscious of as your parents begin to age is late-onset alcoholism. Pat writes about this difficult and sometimes controversial topic on her My Boomer Brain blog.
Whether you're already dealing with an aging parent(s), or it seems to be years away, you'll want to check out this great info and the links below!
Probably some of the hardest years in our lives are when our parents move into old/old age. This is when they are in the upper eighties and nineties and beyond. If we are fortunate enough to have our parents with us that long, we might start to feel guilty about some of the decisions that must be made, should they become frail. Complicating the situation is the fact that your parent might resent that you are even making decisions for them. After all, they raised you. What can you do?
First of all, honor that they are your parents and yes, they are used to taking care of themselves. Because they are old doesn’t mean they have lost the capacity to live independently. You have to listen closely to what they are telling you about their lives.
You have to engage them in a conversation about what you think and what they believe.
One of the toughest decisions involves moving them out of the family home. There are many older adults who live alone in their family home. Their memories are there and they won’t give it up.
I was the Aging in Place Director for a small Area Agency on Aging in SE Indiana. Going around the small rural towns I saw the best and the toughest of circumstances of older people living on their own. Those who were younger – in their seventies and early eighties – did well if they remained part of the community in which they lived. Programs for health and wellness are a necessary part of community programs to ensure that these seniors could continue living independently.
Then there were the older seniors who wouldn’t leave their family home. If other family members moved in with them or if the services they required were in place, it was a positive experience. But if the senior was left to their own devices, the real probability of them becoming depressed and slipping into dementia was very real.
We are hardwired to connect with other people. When we lose our ability to get out and
about to participate in church or community functions, our cognitive health can decline quickly. Communities that have a high population of very old people need to implement programs that you can take to them – wherever they are. Meals on Wheels is a perfect example of a program that provides a safety net of making sure an isolated senior has food to eat, while at the same time making sure that individual is safe in their own home.
We have to take off the blinders and realize that there are more than one or two ways for older people to age in place. Community health and wellness programming is essential in order older adults to fully enjoy a high quality of life through the rest of their lives.
Pat Faust
Director of Initiatives for Successful Senior Aging
Gerontologist
Brain Health & Fitness Expert
Listen to Pat's Boomer Living TV Podcast via LinkedIn: Indiana Town Making Changes to Accommodate Baby Boomers
Listen to Pat's Boomer Living TV Podcast directly through the website.
Check out Boomer Living TV...Podcast for the Baby Boomers.
Wellness Wishes is addressing an important cause: seniors, their families and caregivers. Our mission is to place much-needed funding into senior facilities, while fully funding programs for seniors and their caregivers that are integral in overall health and wellness, as well as resident satisfaction and retention.
Support Pat Faust in Benefiting Our Seniors & Their Caregivers!
As an excelled gerontologist, Pat Faust, Wellness Wishes’ Director for Successful Senior Aging, fully understands the impact the Boomer Generation will have on the economic and medical landscape, should they develop dementia at currently projected rates. She is the solution to these problems, realizing that everything comes back to the brain. With a focus on brain health and function, as well as prevention, she is the ideal expert to address optimization.
To make an impact and discover the ways to contribute, jump over to our Senior and Caregiver Grant a Wish page!