For a lot of people, the holidays are the most joyous time of the year. Even if you’re not a religious person, there’s something warm and inviting about this time of year. Families get together, gifts are exchanged, and there can be something happy and almost magical in the air. It doesn’t matter what your background is, which church you go to, or what your personal beliefs are, this time of year has a lot of good things associated with it.
Unfortunately, not everyone feels that way about the downtime around Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year. For some people, this is a time of deep loneliness and depression. Anxiety and other negative emotions can become overwhelming–even for someone who is in good mental health.
There’s a strong connection between mental and physical health. When someone is happy, good physical health is easier to achieve. However, for seniors that are shut-in, isolated, or lonely, this is harder to achieve.
It starts with relationships. When an elderly individual has a family or group of people that he enjoys spending time with, the loneliness of the holidays–and the rest of the year, for that matter–begins to lift. The issue that a lot of seniors face is that the people that they were once close with have since passed away.
Death, sadly, is a part of life. People that we love pass away. This doesn’t mean that anyone ever needs to be alone, though. Even if you don’t live near your elderly relative there are still things that can be done to ensure that they are not lonely–during the holidays or at any other time of the year.
Having a reliable senior care service on your side is a great start here. Take what we do here at Paradise In-Home Care as an example. Our trained caregivers provide all of the basics when it comes to supervision and assistance around the house, but there’s a lot more to what we do than just this. Yes, helping with medications, bathing, meal preparation, and transportation to and from medical appointments is an important part of care. But that doesn’t mean that this is all that there is. Sometimes, the best thing that can be done to help is just to sit and be with them. When a personal relationship is formed between the person providing care and the person receiving it, it stops being a formal, cold process. Instead, it becomes something that adds value to their days and is no longer just a necessity–but rather something that is looked forward to.
Can we help? Give us a call if you have questions. Maybe you’re just starting the care search and aren’t a hundred percent sure where to start. Or, maybe you’ve been involved in the senior care process for years and are looking for something more personal. We can help get you pointed in the right direction regardless of what the case might be. One of our caregivers would love to answer your questions. We even offer a free sit-down consultation service to make things easier for you. Give us a call or email–or comment on one of our posts–to get started.
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