Taking good care of your loved one is one of the most critical tasks that you can undertake. This is because your family member may not always be able to take care of important tasks in their lives such as personal hygiene. This can be due to a combination of factors such as memory loss, weakened bones, and much more. By stepping up and helping your loved ones, you can ensure that they live a life of dignity and are also safe from diseases that may come about due to a lack of personal hygiene. Let us now explain to you some of the things you should keep in mind as you help your loved one maintain a high degree of personal hygiene.
Body Care
Taking a shower or a bath is not just refreshing but helps to keep diseases at bay. Body hygiene helps to keep skin infections away which is not only uncomfortable but may also lead to other health complications. While your loved one may have been able to handle such a task on their own in the past, they may no longer be physically capable of doing it. With this in mind, it is important to put in place a strategy to help them accomplish this. In most cases, you may have to help your loved one bathe. if this is the approach you are going to take, you might want to have a chat with your loved one about how to go about it. They may at first be uncomfortable about it and you will need to persuade them that it is important. Another thing to keep in mind is to ensure that the bathroom is safe. For example, you might need to make changes to the floor of the bathroom to minimize the risk of falls.
Dental Health
Another important area where your loved one might need help is to maintain proper oral health. Brushing and flossing teeth become critical as even the slightest infections could lead to a cascade of health problems. Just like bathing, you will need to have a discussion with your loved one about the various options that are available. You may be required to help them brush their teeth or have them do it under your supervision. Apart from brushing teeth, it may also be up to you to ensure that they observe all the other aspects of dental health including avoiding sugary snacks and having regular dental exams.
Housekeeping
While your loved one may find it easier to let you help with this, it is still something that you need to get their buy-in on. Take stock of what needs to be done on a daily and weekly basis and then make an assessment as to whether your loved one is capable of performing housekeeping tasks. If not, you can either hire help for them or handle the tasks yourself. Appliances such as dishwashers and laundry machines can make it easier but keep in mind that this only helps if your loved one has physical incapacities. if for example, they are suffering from memory loss, it might be unwise to leave them to operate appliances without supervision.
if you are unable to help your loved one with these chores, it might be a good idea to consider a retirement community where they can get help with all of these chores.
