Check Up on Seniors During The Holidays - 3 Things To Check

Whether you are going home for the holidays and want to check in on parents or are planning to visit other senior citizens in your life who may not have many frequent visitors, it is important that you take time to observe their health and living conditions and take note of any changes that may point to the beginning of disease, illness or depression. Look for these three things as you visit your elderly loved ones this season, as you just may catch warning signs that point to serious health issues that need to be addressed.

Home Cleanliness and Upkeep

As you visit with family and friends, take a look around the house. Is their home as clean and maintained as the last time you visited, or are appliances in disrepair? Is the lawn well taken care of or overgrown? If you are visiting your parents, take a second to look through their stack of mail to determine if they are paying bills on time and keeping up with finances. Check for personal hygiene maintenance, including hair and clothing cleanliness, noticeable body odor, and general grooming habits. When these simple tasks are overlooked or ignored, that inattention can be a warning sign of a larger issue.

Mental Clarity and Stability

It is especially important to take note of your loved one’s emotional wellbeing as well as their mental clarity. As you catch up and talk with one another, pay attention to their ability to keep up with conversation and provide meaningful responses to questions. Also, take note of their emotional state throughout the visit. Do they seem relatively stable emotionally, or are they irrationally irritable or particularly down? These behaviors can be signs of several issues that often ail seniors, including dementia, depression, and other mental issues connected to serious illnesses and diseases.

Physical Wellness of Senior Parents

Finally, while you spend time with your parents and other elderly loved ones this season, spend some time doing a wellness check. As they walk around the house, determine if their balance has decreased since you last visited, or if they seem to be shuffling their feet more than usual. Notice significant weight gain as well as significant weight loss, as both of these things can be indicators of potentially serious health issues. Additionally, agility while performing both gross and fine motor skills can decrease rapidly if a more serious health issue is present.

Holiday Check Up With Senior Parents

A senior check up during holidays is one of the very best ways to catch a potential illness or disease that may go overlooked in your loved one’s everyday life. Differences in behavior, physical frailty, and housekeeping habits can be small indicators that carry large importance for detecting health issues early and potentially taking action if needed.

If you employ important caregiver strategies or work with a local senior care agency like Visiting Angels in Reseda, California, you can cherish the time you have with them while also avoiding additional suffering for yourself.