The most celebrated time of year is fast approaching! Baking holiday cookies with the children, spending time with relatives from afar and excitedly unwrapping oodles of presents are all a part of the magnificent festivities of the season. Along with the cheer comes responsibility to those we love. Children require our devotion; travel plans to visit family must be booked in a timely manner; shopping for holiday gifts becomes an extravagant event; and the elderly in our care continue to require constant supervision. Considering holiday-related activities require focused time and attention, family caregivers end up feeling increased stress.

Rather than experiencing caregiver burnout, family caregivers who provide continual care for a senior individual at home benefit from respite care during the holidays. What is respite care? Short-term, temporary assistance, also known as respite care, is provided by senior homecare facilities. Such centers are often local, and skilled support staff travel to your home to provide compassionate care to an elderly individual. Respite care involves homecare aides who are assigned to provide assistance to seniors for a brief period, ranging anywhere from a couple hours to a few days. Depending on the service, respite care can be strictly non-medical; or, in some senior care facilities, respite care involves a skilled nurse to care for individuals with medical conditions.

Feeling guilty about taking a break from caregiving duties during the holiday merriment? The benefits of hiring respite services far outweigh any potential feelings of not assuming the heavy responsibility. In fact, respite services give family caregivers much-needed relief, so they have a few hours or a couple days to re-energize. The demands of the holidays are incredibly high for one person to handle alone. It is during circumstances like these that respite care becomes invaluable, allowing you to function at your best.

Time to Travel

When the holidays roll around, visiting family members far and wide is an important event. When the loved one in your care can’t be a part of those travels due to age or a chronic condition, respite care becomes helpful. A senior in your care is likely to understand the importance of family and the need to be away to engage in out-of-town visits. Caregivers are free to travel when they place their aging family member in respite care. A compassionate home aid will look after your loved one with diligent care and attention while you are away. You will have peace of mind knowing your family member is in good hands for as long as you require. Plus, you can make the rounds during the holidays to spend time with those who also matter to you.

Health Concerns are Cared for

The demands of the holiday season often stretch a caregiver’s resources to no end. Stress rears its ugly head especially when an aging loved one suffers from a chronic health condition that necessitates constant supervision. In instances like these, a caregiver has little or no time to prepare for events that surround the gift-giving season. Rather than become frazzled with time-consuming responsibilities every minute of the day, caregivers can look after both themselves and the ones they love by employing respite services.
Respite centers that offer medical care are available to meet the medical needs of your loved one with care and concern. You can relax, knowing the senior in your care receives optimum, skilled compassion while you are tending to holiday responsibilities.

Seniors Get to Socialize

Depending on the type of respite care you hire, whether the care is received in-home or if the respite care is offered within a facility, your loved one may have the opportunity to interact with others of his or her age.

Some respite care centers send an aid to your home to offer companionship as well as non-medical care. In these instances, you can be assured the aide will attentively engage with your loved one for the duration of the stay. Aides offer pleasant conversation, offer challenges in board games or puzzles and accompany seniors on walks. Loneliness is rarely an issue when a considerate aide is there to help. Socialization is an important element in any senior’s life, and respite care can efficiently accommodate that need while you run holiday errands.

Other respite care facilities require you to bring the individual to a local facility for the respite term. In instances like these, seniors have the chance to mingle with similar individuals in the facility and develop new acquaintances and social connections.

You can offer the best care to an aging loved one if you meet your own needs. The holiday season comes with the flu season. So if you’ve attracted the flu virus, prioritize rest. In the meantime, respite care will fill the gap. Prevent a trigger of resentment when you picture yourself unable to host a holiday event by including respite care for the day. When out-of-town guests stay with you, lavish them with attention, while respite care tends to the needs of the loved one in your care.

Respite care can fill an invaluable need that protects your emotional well-being, especially during the holidays. Your loved one is likely to understand and will welcome assistance from a compassionate aide.

Respite care service are available from the local Assisting Hands Home Care team. They meet the prospective family members to develop a plan that accommodates the needs of both the family as well as the one in need of care. Once a schedule is determined, a trained caregiver is sent to the home to tend to the non-medical needs of the senior.

As the primary family caregiver, you experience less stress, more energy and reduce your risk of burnout by hiring a capable and skilled aide to offer companionship and non-medical care to the senior in your care.