One of the most difficult tasks of a family caregiver is when the parent needs personal care. Very few adult children are able or willing to perform the intimate tasks of personal hygiene that will keep their parent clean and healthy. Most of us know how a shower or bath and a clean change of clothes can perk up our attitude and give us a feeling of mental wellbeing. The same good feeling happens when our parent is clean as well.
As people age, they often find it difficult or even impossible to take a bath or shower especially on a daily basis. It also becomes difficult to reach the areas of the body that need to be washed. It can also be difficult to get dressed afterwards. They may be suffering from arthritis or the numerous aches and pains in the joints that many aging seniors must endure. Even the act of getting dressed eventually becomes too difficult.
Adult children find it very difficult to have to see their mother or father naked, let along wash and dry their body and help them get dressed. It can be embarrassing to both the senior and their daughter or son.
One way you can deal with this situation is to remove clothing from their body one area at a time. Wash that area, or help them if they are still able to move their arm or hand, and then dry and cover that are before moving on the next. ? If they have a walk in shower, you can place a bench within the shower and use a handheld shower device to help them wash their body, especially in hard to reach areas. They can often wash their own face, hands and arms.
While you have them in the shower, this is a good time to help them wash their hair and brush their teeth. Trying to brush their teeth standing at a sink can be painful and awkward for them.
If your parent is bedridden, you will have to sponge bathe them using a dishpan of water. Again, you can wash one area at a time leaving the rest of their body covered in order to keep embarrassment at bay.
While active people usually bathe on a daily basis, inactive seniors can go a day or two before they need a full bath. A daily washing or hands, face, and private areas should be adequate in most cases.
Because I am caring for my father, I?ve been able to get help from a local home care agency. We call them Dads? shower gals. Currently they are coming in twice a week ? Monday and Friday ? and giving him a full shower and getting him redressed in clean clothes. What is cool about this agency is that they also clean his bathroom and bedroom and take out the trash. They would clean the whole house if we wanted to pay for that, but I?m able to take care of the rest.
I?ve said right from the start that I do not want to touch my father any more than necessary and I have been sticking to that. There are ways you can get help if you feel the same way about your parent. It?s actually not that expensive considering the alternative.
The other plus for us at this time is that since we joined the PACE program, the in-home care is at no cost to us. You should check on whether such a program is available in your community. It?s a state-wide initiative that helps seniors and their caregivers physically and financially.
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