Transition to a Senior Care Center – 4 Ways to Help Your Loved One

It can be tough for everyone when a relative has to make the transition to a senior care center. The Meadows at Country Place in Sacramento, CA, understands how difficult this transition can be and does their best to make it go as smoothly as possible.

We encourage you, and your family to get to feel comfortable yourself. If you feel more at home, then so may they. You can do this by spending some extra time with your loved one at the senior care home. You can also help add to the familiarity of their room as we set it up, so that it feels more like home. We are here and ready to help the entire family make the change.

 

Whether it’s going for a walk around campus or spending time with them over a cup of tea, there are innumerable ways you can make your loved one feel at home at The Meadows at Country Place. Talk with the staff. They are good at this. And, they just might have the simplest suggestion which would spark your own creative solution.

It might take some time for your loved to get used to the surroundings at their new home in a senior care center. With your commitment and the staff’s care, however, they can soon feel completely relaxed. To get you started, here are four ideas we might suggest for making the room extra cozy:

Familiar Environment

Bring in several of their favorite items to brighten up the room. Maybe they have a favorite pillow that fits their back just right or a collection of figurines from a set that they received from someone important many years ago. Your loved one should settle in much faster if the room is to their liking.

Pictures

Surround your loved one with an assortment of family pictures. Find some of their favorite photographs of their parents, kids, and grandchildren, and bring them into the senior care center. Having photos in the room will help smooth out the transition, especially if you can’t be with them all the time.

Decorations

Holiday and other special occasion celebrations will change with a loved one staying at a senior care center, so make it a point to create new traditions as you bring the celebration to them! For example, you can brighten up their day when you bring in appropriate decorations for their room and/or favorite delicious treats for them to enjoy.

Stimulation

Sometimes all that’s needed is a soothing salt lamp or soft blanket to create a calming atmosphere in an unfamiliar room. If you know the best way to help your loved one relax, gather up the supplies and bring them in as soon as you can. If you’re unsure, find out. A good book, or audiobook, crossword puzzles, magazines or their favorite kind of music can all stimulate happy engagement in the present moment in the new environment.

In the end, your efforts toward helping them feel at home will mean a huge difference during the transition into their new home.

3 Benefits of a Secure Assisted Living Facility

Is caring for your declining parent wearing down your other parent? It is such a difficult situation when a loved one develops a debilitating disease that requires round-the-clock monitoring and care. The challenges your family is facing can be daunting. The Meadows at Country Place, a leading senior care center in Sacramento, CA, wants to help people consider the benefits of moving your declining parent to an assisted living facility. There can be many benefits to this decision. Here are three:

  1. Relieve the burden. Your healthy parent can reclaim their health, peace of mind, and sense of self. It takes so much out of a person's life to be constantly on watch. For example, the simple lack of sleep for one night will upset the emotions, thinking, and energy. Extend that to months on end of sleep deprivation, and then add the stress of being responsible for all care, household chores, and financial matters: It all adds up to an overwhelming task. Transferring the caretaker duties to a quality assisted living home will free your healthy, yet challenged, parent from this crushing burden. 
  2. Keep your loved one safe. A loved one with Alzheimer's or other kinds of dementia may wander in their confusion. It can be almost impossible for one person to keep track of another all day and all night at home. It is also difficult to lock up everything dangerous. A secure assisted living facility, like The Meadows at Country Place, is a safe place to wander, with staff monitoring 24 hours a day and spacious, clutter-free living spaces.
  3. More hands make lighter work. At home, it is usually one caretaker helping with all of the activities of daily living which may require assistance, such as food prep, feeding, toileting, bathing, and dressing. At an assisted care facility a whole team of staff provide that assistance and more. At The Meadows at Country Place we give assistance supporting all activities of daily living, providing a quality of life befitting your loved one.

For more information on the care services offered by The Meadows at Country Place, call the staff today at (916) 706-3949. Learn more about their individualized care by visiting their website and liking them on Facebook.