Isolation became one of the biggest issues to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, it was a necessity to stay healthy through the hardest parts of the virus, especially when no one fully understood the extent to which it could harm people. However, for those that lived alone or were living in a senior care facility, isolation often took a major toll on the mental health of those going through it.
Although the restrictions that accompanied COVID are gone, the issues of isolation still exist for some. The consequences of this are extremely troubling for seniors. However, that is the population that tends to struggle against isolation the most.
Additionally, research indicates that there are a lot of seniors that have not reintegrated into their social lives like they were living prior to the pandemic. The study indicated that more than half of seniors are spending more time at home alone and less time socializing in public than they were doing prior to the pandemic’s onset.
The two biggest reasons why seniors are not leaving the house as much? Fear of infections and concerns that interactions with other people will be hostile. Although the pandemic is over, there’s still a lot of residual fear and concerns about the atmosphere that it created. Some of these concerns might seem silly, but some of them are very real. Unfortunately, we are still dealing with the fallout from this illness.
This research came out of the University of Colorado in Boulder. About 7,000 people over age 55 from all over the country were surveyed. 60 percent of those that participated stated that they leave their home less now than they did before the pandemic.
But isolation has been a long-standing issue for senior citizens, even well before the pandemic changed life for all of us. Seniors have dealt with being homebound and unable to connect with the world around them for a long time. Hopefully, this is an issue that is resolved on a widespread basis. There’s far more resources out there to keep people connected than ever before in history.
One of the great benefits of in-home care is that it has a natural defense against isolation. Although the people receiving care don’t need to leave their home to receive assistance, help comes to them. And with it, a built in person to socialize. What’s more, an in-home caregiver can often help with things like transportation, bringing seniors to appointments, the store, or even religious services. The right in-home care service can help ensure that your loved one is able to get the help they need, where they want it, and still interact with the world around them.
If you would like to talk with us more about the in-home care that we provide, please feel free to reach out to us. One of our professional caregivers would be happy to talk more with you. Care is what we do, and we’d love to help answer your questions and get you pointed in the right direction.
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