In your role as a family caregiver your most important priority is making sure that your parent stays healthy, comfortable, safe, and happy. There are many ways that you can accomplish this, but it is important to remember that the most effective care that you can give your parent is often not individual care efforts at all, but instead support and encouragement to pursue this themselves. One way that you can accomplish this is by encouraging them to volunteer and make a difference in their community. Participating in volunteer opportunities is an exceptional way to boost your parent’s mental, emotional, and physical health, and help them to find more meaning and fulfillment in their later years. Helping them to find the opportunities that are right for them can empower them to seek a better quality of life as they age in place.
Use these tips to help your parent find ways that they can make a difference in their community:
- Talk to them about their passions. Spend some time talking to your elderly parent about the things that they are most passionate about. By isolating these passions you can more easily identify volunteer opportunities that would be meaningful for your senior.
- Identify their strengths. Your parent’s talents, strengths, and abilities will help them to be the most effective volunteer possible in the opportunity that they choose. Talk to them about their strengths, such as handicrafts that they are able to do or their ability to comfort people in difficult situations.
- Contact meaningful organizations. Thinking about your parent’s passions, identify organizations in your area that correspond with these passions. Contact these organizations and ask them about any volunteer opportunities that might be available. For example, if your parent is concerned about hunger, contact the local food bank, soup kitchens, and shelters that serve those with hunger needs. If they are passionate about the environment, contact groups that participate in beautification efforts such as cleanups and tree planting. If they love animals, contact shelters that may need volunteers to feed, spend time with, or walk the animals awaiting adoption.
If you have been looking for ways to enhance your elderly parent’s quality of life, boost their mental and emotional health, and help them maintain the lifestyle that they desire and deserve as they age in place, starting senior care for them might be the ideal option. A senior home care services provider can be there with your elderly loved one on a fully customized schedule to ensure that they get all of the care, support, assistance, and encouragement that they need while also keeping you at the forefront of their care routine. The highly personalized care services designed specifically for your loved one are tailored to helping your parent address their individual needs, challenges, and limitations in the way that is right for them. This care can help your parent to stay healthy, safe, and comfortable while supporting a lifestyle that is as independent, active, and fulfilling as possible as they age in place.
If you or an aging loved one needs senior care in Fair Oaks, CA, remember Senior Home Care Services. Call us at (916) 514-7006 for more information.
Sources
http://seniorcommunity.org/five-benefits-volunteering-retirement/
https://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/healthbenefits_factsheet.pdf
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