6 ways to take care of your aging parents remotely

Do you find it difficult to take care of aging parents when you are full-time family or work?

Balancing your responsibilities with caring for your parents can be challenging. Perhaps you live in another city, are too busy with your own career or children, your parents are on self-isolation, or you just don't get along.

Regardless of the reason, there are many new technologies that have revolutionized care that will allow you to keep your parents safe, healthy, and happy without the need for your physical presence. A win-win for everyone!

1. Stay connected

As our parents age, many of them lose their best friends, family, and loved ones, putting them at risk of isolation and loneliness. Fortunately, staying connected from afar is now cheaper and easier than ever. Whether it's calls, messages or video calling, you can chat with your parents every day, no matter where you are.

You can even use video calling to involve your parents in family activities. For example, you can ask parents to read a bedtime story to their children every night, to toast at dinner, or let them watch your children play football. The possibilities are endless.

You should also use this time to watch your parents for changes in their appearance, mood, or behavior. Do they look sad, anxious, or tired when they usually don't? Do they dress up, comb their hair, etc.? You must take into account any significant changes.

2. Order delivery

As our parents get older, many of them lose their ability to drive or have mobility or vision problems, making shopping on their own almost impossible. It is very important that your parents have food, food, medicine and household items. In the past, you would have had to go shopping for your parents, perhaps even prepare food for them if they couldn't do it themselves. Now you can simply order delivery.

To avoid burdening parents with shopping, arrange for home delivery of groceries. You can do the same to deliver your medicines from your nearest or online pharmacy and make sure medicines arrive sorted by day and in convenient packages. If your parents are having trouble preparing meals, look for local wheeled eateries in your area and see if they can deliver ready-made meals to your parents' doorstep.

3. Organize access to help

Falls are a leading cause of injury among the elderly. They cause more deaths, head injuries, and hip fractures than any other cause. Knowing that your parents can get help, even if they are hurt and alone, is the key to their independence and your peace of mind.

Seniors can now use panic buttons - warning systems that protect them inside and outside the home, use GPS, and can automatically detect falls. Seniors can wear the device in the form of a necklace, a bracelet on the wrist, or download a fall detection program into a smartwatch. Other technologies are not required to be worn on the body and are used in the form of wall-mounted devices that track movement or lack thereof in a room.

Regardless of technology, it's easy to offer your parents access to help in a fall or other emergency and to protect them if an accident occurs in the shower, on the stairs or in the garden.

4. Install Home Security System

Older people tend to be more vulnerable to theft, violence and pressure than the rest of the population. Social isolation, cognitive impairment, mobility problems, poor eyesight, and increased gullibility all make older adults prime targets not only for strangers, but even for caregivers and family members.

Fortunately, there are several things you can do to keep an eye on those who are in contact with your parents. First of all, you can install a video intercom. This will allow you to see who is at your parents' door and when. You can configure it so that it is you who can talk to the newcomer on the intercom and open the door for him.

You can also install video cameras with microphones inside your home. This will allow you to keep an eye on those who are caring for your parents or entering their home. You can see if your parents are being treated well, if they are being treated respectfully, and if they are being paid attention to at all. You can even make the cameras visible to act as a deterrent against inappropriate behavior.

Finally, you can add a home security system that you can turn on and off remotely from your phone, keeping your parents and their property safe from intruders.

5. Consider home automation options

Remember the days when seniors had problems using the TV remote, thermostat, radio, or telephone keypad? They are long gone.

As the elderly age, poor eyesight, mobility and fine motor problems can complicate routine tasks. Fortunately, many new smart home technologies, such as digital voice assistants (Amazon Alexa or Google Home, for example), are making life a lot easier.

For example, seniors with poor eyesight can now turn on the TV and change channels using a digital voice assistant. Your parents can also call you with a simple voice command, without using the phone book or tiny keypad. Not only that, they can control the temperature in the house, lighting, locks and radio using voice commands. All of these features make it much easier for your parents to live independently at home.

6. Provide Parents with Assistant Devices

Many older people move out of their homes because they are no longer comfortable for them. Moving can be avoided by adapting the parents' home to their needs. There are many devices that can really help them avoid injury and make life much easier.

Perhaps most important is the addition of grab bars to the shower, bathroom, and toilet. We can all slip in and out of the bathtub, and having a handrail nearby can literally save an elderly person's life.

Other helpful aids include motion-sensitive faucets that turn off automatically (great for those with arthritis and memory impairment), bidet toilets (provide good hygiene, help those with mobility problems, and reduce the risk of a urinary infection paths) and a shower chair (facilitates personal care).

Conclusion

As you can see, even if you live in a different city, or work, or raise your own children, there are many great ways to keep your parents healthy, safe, and happy.

While nothing can replace hugs and kisses, or meals with Mom and Dad, sometimes it just isn't possible. Technology is changing the way we can care for and communicate with our parents. The main thing is that it gives them the opportunity to stay in their own homes much longer than before, while maintaining their dignity and independence.