#GivingTuesday is an opportunity to do something meaningful for different people. Fortunately, recently there are more and more those who are ready to help not only children, but also the elderly.
We have developed special instructions on how to help lonely elderly people with the greatest benefit for them.
Helping the elderly is not the most popular area of charity, often people start thinking about them mainly on May 9 and New Year. People bring or give gifts and again forget about the old people. But the main contradiction lies in the fact that even in the presence of financial difficulties, grandparents most of all need not gifts and things, but constant attention and participation.
In particular, help is needed for lonely elderly people with limited mobility and those who live in nursing homes.
Help in nursing homes
Nursing homes are an inevitable phenomenon: someone is left without relatives, is weak and cannot take care of himself, someone has relatives who have left for another city, others have relatives, but there is not enough living space and the opportunity to care for the elderly. What is life in a government institution at the expense of the state? This is a roof over your head, breakfast, lunch, dinner and someone else's bathrobe after a general wash.
Old people living in boarding schools are not just left out of life, they cease to exist for the outside world. They live somewhere out there, often forgotten, lonely and completely devoid of attention. In total, there are more than 2,000 nursing homes and institutions in Russia, where more than 10,000 lonely old people live.
The main problems of an elderly person in a nursing home are loneliness, lack of personal space and absolute free time with nothing to do. Walkers have the opportunity to go to the lobby to watch TV or to the store, walk around the territory. Bedridden patients are forced to lie down and, if they're lucky, listen to the radio or TV - whoever has them in the ward. They are visited only by a nurse, who brings food and most often silently and hastily spoon-feeds, because she has 30 more people on the waiting list.
Of course, hobbies and hobbies are not prohibited in the nursing home, and there are real craftsmen among grandparents. But who, for example, will buy yarn for grandmother? And what if 75% of her pension goes to the boarding school, and for the rest you want to buy tasty things. Or this balance of money can be given to nurses at all - for additional services, such as an extra diaper change or a trip to the store.
Help for the elderly at home
Many elderly people living at home also need help with housework, medical care, etc. They need attention and communication. But in this case, a number of difficulties arise. The first is to find contacts and establish access to the apartment. No services under the law on personal data ever give the addresses and phone numbers of older people.
If you still managed to get to know your grandfather or grandmother and start helping, then the family may be wary and distrustful of a person who for some reason began to come to their elderly relative. Unfortunately, these fears are far from always in vain, especially with the widespread use of fraudulent schemes.
In addition, it may seem to an elderly person that something is missing in the house after the volunteer's visit, and then the volunteer may have problems - he is not protected from such situations in any way. During the visit, an elderly person may become ill. That is, a volunteer must be prepared for many situations.
Thus, if we are talking about a person living at home, it is very difficult to organize permanent assistance, volunteer training is required, contact with social services (most elderly people living at home receive the services of a social worker if necessary), regulation of the “volunteer-ward” relationship - a contract. Of course, only an organization with experience can do this. For example, a network for helping the elderly is developed in the Red Cross organization.
One of the biggest problems of the elderly in nursing homes is apathy and indifference to the surrounding reality, up to “loss of personality”, when older people answer “we will do what they say” and calmly perceive the lack of locks on the doors, rude treatment of themselves and poor material conditions.
For the staff, people who have to be cleaned up every day, who, moreover, have their own "eccentrics" and whims, also lose their individuality, and, coupled with fatigue, sometimes cause neglect. According to the state in a boarding school, there can be 2-3 nurses for 50 bedridden people, and the staff does not physically have the strength to communicate and pay attention. So it turns out that a person has no personal space, he is dependent, and no one is interested in his needs.
Older people often withdraw into themselves and soon enough lose the motivation to do anything at all. To avoid this and restore their interest in life and a sense of being individuals, communication, comfortable conditions, and proper care are necessary. Therefore, it is so important to communicate with grandparents, to give them the opportunity to feel respect for themselves.
It is especially important to give those living in a boarding school the opportunity to be creative and express themselves, to make their brains work, because after so many years of forced idleness, old people wean themselves from the need to think and do something. For example, the Joy of Old Age Foundation hires cultists and art therapists to work with older people who resist at first, and then begin to create with enthusiasm, prepare for new activities and present their works at exhibitions.
Elderly people living on their own also need communication and creative activity. Charitable organizations that provide assistance to them involve them in various creative and intellectual pursuits.
The conditions in which people live in boarding schools are far from comfortable. Many nursing homes, especially in the regions, are often almost in disrepair. The interior of the institutions is very far from our ideas of comfort - state-owned walls painted with paint, unrepaired bathrooms, an overgrown courtyard, as well as 3-4 more neighbors in the ward. Therefore, any grains of attention and care for these people is a real joy and happiness. Older people living on their own, especially in small towns or rural areas, have material and domestic problems that can be helped to solve. For example, older people often need help with daily needs - to clean the yard, bring water, clean the apartment / house.
To help effectively, not to harm and not to find difficulties and problems, you need to join experienced organizations or groups. Or start helping a well-known person, a neighbor.
You can:
1. Regularly, and not just on holidays, pay attention and help some elderly person.
2. Help with shopping for basic necessities (groceries, medicines, care products for those who are bedridden) or help with house cleaning, cooking, etc.
Thinking about old age, the last thing we dream of is to be alone. In practice, everything often turns out exactly like this: elderly people forgotten by their children and grandchildren are often forced to spend day and night alone with themselves. It is not surprising that many of them suffer from deep loneliness, against which diseases develop, sometimes fatal. How to help a person and save him from this feeling?
Not all residents of inexpensive nursing homes feel abandoned. But those who are unlucky with relatives and who are not spoiled by their visits, sooner or later withdraw into themselves, cease to be interested in the outside world and feel their own uselessness. To return the taste for life helps, for example, a new hobby. It is good if, even before retirement, a person has a clear idea of \u200b\u200bwhat he plans to do when he is left without a job.
The presence of hobbies and congenial interlocutors will help develop a positive attitude towards the world around you during this difficult life period, experience optimism and learn how to deal with longing. For those who did not manage to find their place in the sun in retirement, who did not have hobbies and interlocutors, one can only sympathize: in addition to feeling lonely, they face serious health problems and no positive prospects.
Of course, attention and care for the elderly will somewhat change the situation for the better, but this is sometimes not enough. New acquaintances, new impressions and pleasant communication “on the side” will help to establish a favorable emotional background. Both the same lonely neighbors and visitors to interest clubs can act as interlocutors. The main thing is not to frighten away a person in years, because at this age people become shy and very conservative. Not all of them are open to new acquaintances.
If a person does not reject technical innovations, perhaps the Internet will help him cope with loneliness: with the help of the World Wide Web, it is much easier to organize acquaintances and just communicate. Take the time to find him something to do, in addition to watching TV shows. Passion must involve the hands or the brain, that is, be active. Offer mom or dad crossword puzzles, knitting, cooking interesting dishes - take an active part in their fate, and they will never feel lonely!
The purpose of my talk today is to highlight the typical problems that older people have and how they affect us caregivers.
First, let's define the main concept. dementia– this is acquired dementia. That is, when the human brain has already formed, and then something happened to it. We still use the word "oligophrenia" to this day. Oligophrenia- this is dementia that arose in the early stages of brain formation, and everything that a person “acquired” later is called dementia. It usually happens after 60-70 years.
1. Old age is not treated.
For 14 years I worked as a district geriatric psychiatrist in Korolev in a regular dispensary. Once he was, perhaps, the only person who regularly went from house to house with people suffering from dementia.
Grigory Gorshunin
Of course, a lot of interesting experience has accumulated. Often the patient's relatives are faced with the position of doctors: “What do you want? He's old..." The most brilliant answer, in my opinion, was given by one relative of an elderly grandmother, who said: “What do I want? I wish that when she died, I had less guilt. I want to do what I could do for her!”
The doctor always wants to be efficient, he wants to cure the patient. And old age cannot be cured. And the illusion is created that there is nothing to do with old people at all. It is with this illusion that we must fight today.
There is no diagnosis of "old age", there are diseases that need to be treated, like any disease at any age.
2. Dementia does not need to be treated because it is incurable.
In this case, any chronic diseases do not need to be treated, and yet about 5% of dementias are potentially reversible. What does "potentially reversible" mean? With the right treatment early on for some types of dementia, dementia can be cured. Even with irreversible processes, at an early stage, dementia can recede for a while, and symptoms can decrease. If treated appropriately.
Is 5% a little? A lot on a general scale, since according to official data in Russia there are about 20 million people suffering from dementia. In fact, I think this figure is underestimated by one and a half to two times, since dementia is usually diagnosed late.
3. "Why torture him with" chemistry "?".
Also a violation of ethics: it's not for us to decide all this. When you yourself get sick, do you not need to be “tormented” with medicines? Why can't an older person get the same help as a younger one? Some amazing hypocrisy, relatives say: “Let's not torture our grandfather with chemistry”, and then. When grandfather infuriates them, and brings them to a "white heat", they can hit him, tie him up.
That is, you don’t need to “torment with chemistry”, but can you beat? An elderly person cannot go to the doctor himself, and we must take on this function.
People endure for weeks, sometimes months, terrible behavioral disorders and sleep disturbances due to the dementia of their relatives, and then, staggering, they come to a psychiatrist and say: “Doctor, we don’t need anything, let him just sleep.” Of course, sleep is very important, it needs to be organized, but sleep is the tip of the iceberg, if you just improve sleep, this will not help a person with dementia much.
Insomnia is a symptom. And therefore, it is possible to put a grandfather to sleep, but it is impossible to help him from dementia in this way.
For some reason, the patient's environment - close people, nurses, nursing staff, some neuropathologists and therapists - think that it is very difficult to improve sleep, remove aggression, remove crazy ideas. In fact, this is a real challenge. We cannot cure a person, but to make sure that he is comfortable for us in care and at the same time he feels more or less good himself is a real task.
Outcome of delusions: Unnecessary suffering of the patient and his environment.
Aggression, delusions, behavioral and sleep disturbances, and much more can be stopped, and the development of dementia can be stopped for a while or slowed down.
There are three main themes that caregivers and physicians face in geriatric psychiatry:
If a person, no matter what age, is chronically unable to experience joy, it is depression. Everyone has their own experience of old age. I would very much like that with my help we will form an image of old age a la Japan, when we save up money in retirement and go somewhere, and not sit on a stool straight.
In the meantime, the image of old age in our society is rather depressing. Who do we represent when we say "old man"? Usually a bent grandfather who wanders somewhere, or an angry, restless grandmother. And therefore, when an elderly person has a bad mood, it is perceived as normal. It is all the more normal when old people who have lived to be 80–90 years old say: “We are tired, we don’t want to live.” It is not right!
As long as a person is alive, he should want to live, this is the norm. If a person, in any situation, does not want to live, this is depression, regardless of age. What's wrong with depression? It negatively affects somatic diseases and worsens the prognosis. We know that older people usually have a whole bunch of diseases: type 2 diabetes, angina pectoris, hypertension, knee pain, back pain, and so on. Even sometimes you come to a call, you ask an elderly person what hurts, he says: “Everything hurts!”. And I understand what he means.
Both old people and children suffer from depression in the body. That is, in fact, the answer “everything hurts” can be translated into our language like this: “My soul hurts, first of all, and everything else comes from that.” If a person is depressed, sad, his pressure jumps, sugar, until we remove this sadness and depression, it seems unlikely to normalize other indicators.
Bottom line: Depression is rarely diagnosed and treated. As a result: the duration and quality of life is less, and others are worse off.
We encounter the topic of delirium in people at a young age, mainly with prolonged use of alcohol. This is "delirious tremens" - hallucinations, acute delusions of persecution, and so on. In an elderly person, delirium may occur after physical or psychological trauma, moving to another place, bodily diseases.
Just the day before yesterday, I was on a call to a woman who is already under a hundred years old. She always lived almost independently - with a visiting social worker, relatives bought food. She had dementia, but mild, until some point it was not critical.
And so she falls at night, breaks her femoral neck, and on the very first night after the fracture, confusion begins in her. She doesn’t recognize anyone, she screams: “Where did you put my furniture, my things?” She starts to panic, get angry, get up with her broken leg, and run somewhere.
A common reason for the start of confusion is moving. Here an old man lives alone, serves himself in the city or in the countryside. The environment helps him - neighbors buy groceries, grandmothers come to visit. And suddenly they call relatives and say: “Your grandfather is weird.” He gave to the pigs what he gave to the chickens, to the chickens what he gave to the pigs, he wandered somewhere at night, barely caught, and so on, he talks. Relatives come and take grandfather away.
And here a problem arises, because grandfather, although he did not cope well with his chickens and pigs, at least knew where the toilet was, where the matches were, where his bed was, that is, he somehow oriented himself in the usual place. And after the move, he does not orient himself at all. And against this background, usually at night, confusion begins - grandfather is torn "home".
Sometimes relatives, stunned by such perseverance, really take him home so that he calms down about the chickens ... But this does not lead to anything, because in the next entrance the same grandfather is eager to “go home”, although he lived in this apartment all his life .
People, at the moment of confusion, do not understand where they are and what is happening around. The confusion often comes on acutely, in the evening or at night, and may go away by itself in the morning after sleep. That is, at night they call an ambulance, the doctor gives an injection, says: call a psychiatrist, and in the morning the patient wakes up calm and does not remember anything. Because confusion is forgotten (amnesic), the person does not remember, or very vaguely remembers what he did in a state of confusion.
Confusion is most often accompanied by psychomotor agitation: speech, motor, usually occurs at night, and, which is especially unpleasant, is aggravated by incorrect treatment.
When sleep is disturbed in the elderly, what drug is usually advised by a therapist, a neuropathologist? Phenazepam is a benzodiazepine tranquilizer. This drug can treat anxiety and insomnia. He soothes and soothes.
But with confusion (due to organic brain disorders), phenazepam acts the other way around - it does not calm, but excites. We often hear such stories: an ambulance came, gave phenazepam or made relanium intramuscularly, grandfather forgot for an hour, and then began to “run along the ceiling”. This whole group of benzodiazepine tranquilizers often works the other way around (paradoxically) in old people.
And about phenazepam: even if your grandparents use it within reasonable limits, keep in mind that, firstly, it is addictive and addictive, and secondly, it is a muscle relaxant, that is, it relaxes muscles. Elderly people, when they increase their dose of phenazepam, getting up, for example, at night to go to the toilet, fall, break their hips, and that's it.
Sometimes they also begin to treat insomnia or confusion in grandmothers with phenobarbital, that is, Valocordin or Corvalol, which contain it. But phenobarbital, although indeed a very strong sleeping pill, anti-anxiety and anticonvulsant, is also addictive and addictive. That is, in principle, we can equate it to narcotic drugs.
Therefore, in Russia we have such a specific phenomenon as korvalolshchik grandmothers. These are grandmothers who buy a huge number of bottles of Valocordin or Corvalol in a pharmacy and drink several of them a day. In fact, they are drug addicts, and if they don't drink it, they a) won't fall asleep; b) they will develop behavioral disorders resembling delirium tremens in an alcoholic. Often they have slurred speech like "porridge in the mouth" and a wobbly gait. If you see your loved one regularly drinking these over-the-counter drugs, please look into it. They must be replaced by other drugs without such side effects.
Bottom line: when confusion is not addressed in the early stages, they do not look for causes, they are not treated in the same way, as a result - the suffering of the patient and the whole family, the flight of nurses.
Dementia is acquired dementia: disorders of memory, attention, orientation, recognition, planning, criticism. Violation and loss of professional and everyday skills.
What do you think, if you bring an average elderly person in their 70s with a memory impairment and an orientation to an appointment with a neurologist, what diagnosis will he most likely receive? He will receive a diagnosis of "dyscirculatory encephalopathy" (DEP), which, translated into Russian, means "a disorder of brain functions due to impaired blood circulation through its vessels." More often than not, the diagnosis is wrong and the treatment is wrong. A non-stroke, but pronounced form of the course of cerebrovascular disease (DEP), is a severe and relatively rare disease. Such patients do not walk, their speech is impaired, although there may not be asymmetry in tone (differences in the work of the muscles of the left and right half of the body).
In Russia, there is a traditional problem - overdiagnosis of vascular problems of the brain and underdiagnosis of so-called atrophic problems, which includes Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and many others. For some reason, neuropathologists everywhere see problems with blood vessels. But if the disease develops smoothly, gradually, slowly, most likely it is not connected with the vessels.
But if the disease develops abruptly or spasmodically, this is vascular dementia. Quite often, these two conditions are combined. That is, on the one hand, there is a smooth process of dying off of brain cells, as in Alzheimer's disease, and on the other hand, vascular "catastrophes" also occur against this background. These two processes mutually "feed" each other, so that even yesterday a well-kept old man can "break into a tailspin".
Relatives and doctors do not always notice dementia, or notice it only in advanced stages. There is a stereotype that dementia is when a person lies in a diaper and “blows bubbles”, and when, for example, he loses some household skill, this is still normal. In fact, dementia, if it develops very slowly, most often begins with memory disorders.
The classic case is dementia of the Alzheimer's type. What does this mean? A person remembers events from his life well, but he does not remember what happened just now. For example, at the reception I ask an elderly person, he recognizes everyone, knows everything, remembers the address, and then I say: “Did you have breakfast today?”. - "Yes", - "What did you have for breakfast?" - Silence, he does not remember.
There is also such a stereotype that dementia is something about memory, attention, orientation. In fact, there are types of dementias that begin with character and behavioral disorders. For example, frontotemporal dementia, or Pick's disease as it used to be called, can begin with a personality disorder. A person in the first stages of dementia becomes either complacently relieved - "the sea is knee-deep", or vice versa, very closed, self-absorbed, apathetic and sloppy.
You probably want to ask me: where, in fact, does that conditional border lie, between the still normal and the already onset of dementia? There are different criteria for this boundary. ICD (International Disease Qualification) indicates that dementia is a violation of higher cortical functions with a violation of household and professional skills. The definition is correct, but it is too vague. That is, we can apply it both at advanced and at early stages. Why is it so important to define the boundary? This moment is not only medical. Legal issues often arise: problems of inheritance, legal capacity, and so on.
Two criteria will help determine the boundary:
1) Dementia is characterized by criticism disorder. That is, a person no longer treats his problems with criticism - to memory disorders, basically. He does not notice them, or downplays the scale of his problems.
2) Loss of self-service. As long as a person takes care of himself, we can assume by default that there is no dementia.
But here, too, there is a subtle point - what does “serves itself” mean? If a person already exists in your care, but functions in an apartment, this does not mean that there is no dementia. It may very well be that it is already gently developing, it's just that a person in his usual environment does not detect it. But, for example, he cannot go and pay himself according to the receipt: he gets confused, does not understand what and where to pay for, is not able to count the change, etc.
Here is the mistake: mild and slow disorders are considered the norm in the elderly and senile age. This is very bad, because it is mild and slow disorders that can be effectively treated. If you bring your relative at an early stage of dementia, it can be managed with medications that don't cure dementia but are great at containing it. Sometimes for many, many years.
Bottom line: Dementia is diagnosed late, treated incorrectly. As a result, close people live less, worse, suffer themselves and cause suffering to others.
Where should you start if a loved one has dementia? A very unusual answer: taking care of the caregiver!
By normalizing the state of mind of the caregiver, we:
– Improving the quality of care;
– We carry out the prevention of “burnout syndrome” among relatives and carers. If you explain "on the fingers", those who are nearby go through the stages of aggression, depression and somatization;
– We keep good carers and health for our loved ones who bear the burden of care;
– If the caregiver works, we improve his performance and sometimes keep his job.
Does anyone have a version of why you need to start with yourself when caring for a loved one with dementia? Recall 3D, where depression comes first. The caregiver is actually much more vulnerable than the dementia patient.
And you still need to provide for the patient - socially, legally, medically. If you put the patient in the center, or rather, his illness, over time you will lie next to the patient. Only by normalizing the condition of the caregiver, we improve the quality of care and help the patient himself.
Burnout Syndrome has three conditional stages: aggression, depression, somatization.
Aggression - often as irritability, the classic version is asthenia (weakness, fatigue).
This is the phase of apathy, when a person no longer needs anything at all, he walks like a “zombie”, is silent, tearful, automatically cares and is no longer with us. This is a more severe stage of burnout.
Simply put, a person can simply die. The caregiver develops his own illnesses and becomes disabled himself.
It is impossible to cheat reality. If you care without taking care of yourself, then after a while you yourself will perish.
What can be done with the right treatment and care for a demented relative?
In 5% of cases, dementia can be cured. There are dementias with hypothyroidism, with hyperthyroidism, with a lack of vitamin B-12, folic acid, normotensive hydrocephalus, and so on.
If we cannot cure dementia, we must understand that it takes, on average, four to seven years from the time of diagnosis to the death of our loved one. Why should we turn these years into hell? Let's eliminate the suffering of an elderly person, and save ourselves health and work.
– If I notice some behavioral deviations in a relative, but she does not recognize this and does not want to be treated?
– In medical law, there is the Federal Law “On Psychiatric Care and Guarantees of the Rights of Citizens in its Provision”. I believe that all people who care for dementia patients, due to the difficult social and medical and legal situation, need to read and know this law. Especially about observation by a psychiatrist: how can a psychiatrist be invited, in what cases can a psychiatrist involuntarily send a patient to a hospital, and when to refuse, etc.
But in practice, if we see dementia, we try to start treating it as soon as possible. Since getting permission from the court for an examination is a very long time, and the disease progresses, relatives go crazy. Here it should be remembered that psychotropic drugs for dementia patients cannot be left on their hands. You need tight control. They forget to take them, or they forget that they took them, and they take more. Or they don't take it on purpose. Why?
– What can be the reason for the complete refusal of food and water in the later stages of dementia?
- First of all, it is necessary to find and treat depression.
It must be borne in mind that caring for an elderly person is hard physical and moral work, which, for us, relatives, is not paid. Why else is burnout syndrome so relevant? If you were paid money for care, you would not burn out so quickly. Adequately paid care is the prevention of burnout syndrome.
But it’s even harder to rebuild inside, admit that your loved one is sick, take control of the situation into your own hands, and, despite fatigue and troubles, try to enjoy this life. Because there won't be another.
From this article you will learn:
Why is it important to help the elderly?
How volunteers help the elderly
How to help an elderly person at home and in a boarding school
How can you help the elderly through social funds
Usually, everyone thinks about how to help the elderly on the eve of big all-Russian holidays - Victory Day or the New Year. Volunteers, welfare workers, distant and sometimes even close relatives “raid” the elderly person, give gifts and run away again on urgent business.
And few people think that much more expensive than material gifts, attention and sympathy for the elderly. And even those who are really experiencing financial difficulties. This is especially true for people who are limited to the close world of a nursing home or cannot independently leave the apartment and at least go down to the entrance to chat with peers. Let's talk about how to help the elderly?
Very often you can help older people with housework - in cleaning, washing, buying food and medicine, just in communication and care. But at the same time, helping the elderly at home is often especially difficult. There are many reasons. For example, first you need to find a person who would really need such help. These people do not go out into the street (otherwise they can already be considered independent and do not need support), it is also impossible to get addresses and telephone numbers through social services - these structures do not disclose the personal data of their wards.
But even if you find a person who needs your assistance, that's half the battle. As soon as you start helping an elderly person, relatives will definitely intervene. And they can be understood - for no apparent reason, a stranger suddenly began to go to the apartment of an elderly relative! What if it's a scammer? Considering that there are quite a lot of crooks today, relatives have the right to doubt, agree. Suppose you managed to convince relatives that you really just want to help an elderly person. And you found a lonely old man.
But even this does not guarantee getting rid of problems. For example, after a volunteer came to an apartment, an elderly person may have something missing (or it will seem to him that something is missing). At the same time, the volunteer is absolutely defenseless; he cannot prove his innocence.
When helping an elderly person at home, you need to be prepared for another emergency situation - a person may suddenly become ill, and a volunteer must be ready to take immediate action.
Many may get the impression that it is generally impossible to help an elderly person at home. This is not so, you just need to establish contact with social security services, relatives, formalize your relationship with the ward with a special agreement, and even easier - contact a large volunteer organization that has already developed a mechanism for helping the elderly.
Today in Russia there are more than 2,000 nursing homes, in which more than ten thousand old people live permanently. How does a person get into a nursing home? Everyone has different circumstances. Someone in his declining years was left completely alone, without relatives, and cannot take care of himself. Others have living relatives, but they do not want to support the old man and take care of him. At the third children have parted across the country and have forgotten about the elderly parent. The purpose of our article is not to condemn people who have abandoned their old people, but to find out how to help the elderly, including those in nursing homes. Therefore, we will not talk about the causes, let's talk about the consequences.
In a nursing home, an elderly person finds himself cut off from the outside world. Someone does not want to go beyond their little world, and someone cannot do it. The whole life of older people in this case is limited to joint breakfasts, lunches, dinners, simple entertainments like watching TV and listening to the radio. In general, an elderly person who finds himself in a nursing home seems to cease to exist for the outside world. It is especially difficult in such a situation for bedridden patients - they do not even have the opportunity to go out into the courtyard and breathe fresh air.
In nursing homes, it is difficult for many even to engage in hobbies - knitting, embroidery, sawing, etc. And not because it is forbidden. It's just that three-quarters of the pension goes to the nursing home itself for the maintenance of the patient, and the remaining quarter - for small tasty pleasures or for the staff in general - for going to the store, for example, or extra cleaning in the ward. So, the "guests" really need our help. How to help the elderly in nursing homes?
Finding themselves in unusual conditions, older people often react to a change in their usual environment with apathy, complete indifference to themselves and everything that surrounds them. This apathy can lead - and often does - to the so-called "loss of personality". As a result, nursing home patients lose their own opinion, are ready to do “whatever they say”, begin to put up with the rudeness of the staff, poor material support, tasteless food, etc.
The same thing happens with staff. Taking care of dozens of patients every day as part of their professional duties, they cease to respect them and even “distinguish” them. Everyone merges into a solid mass, which is even physically unrealistic to serve, let alone pay attention to the needs, needs and wishes of each patient, to the lack of lively human communication and attention.
Why is it so important to help the elderly in nursing homes? Together with the “loss of personality”, a person completely loses motivation for life. Older people withdraw into themselves, become isolated, cease to feel like individuals who deserve respect. To help the elderly in this case is to return the joy of communication to them, to make them feel needed and useful again.
How exactly to help the elderly in nursing homes? Actually, it's pretty simple. We need to let them show their skills, abilities, talents, make them think, and, if possible, do something. Various simple creative tasks are well suited for this. For example, the Joy of Old Age Foundation invites cultural organizers and art therapists to visit older people. At first, the elderly, who fell into apathy, internally resist creative pursuits, but then the process is extremely captivating. They are looking forward to continuing their studies, they begin to present their works to the public.
Is it possible to help older people who do not live in a nursing home in the same way? Yes, you certainly may. For those who live independent lives, charitable organizations also arrange creative and intellectual pursuits.
It is possible to help the elderly in nursing homes not only with attention, but also corny - with your hands. Nursing homes are often a rather sad sight. Not only does the whole situation speak of the state-of-the-art of this house, but also cosmetic repairs are not made in every nursing home. Therefore, the elderly also need help with the housework - repairs, mowing the grass in the yard, repairs in the wards, etc.
1. You can help the elderly on a regular basis, not on a case-by-case basis. If you are ready, there are some simple ways to help the elderly.
You can visit the elderly on your own or by joining a volunteer trip. Volunteers usually organize concerts for their wards, think about whether you should take part too? Sing something, read poetry, play a scene, etc. A concert plus sweet gifts - and now grandparents are smiling, their mood has risen.
It won't cost you anything to be a "grandchild by correspondence". Is that the cost of the envelope. Lonely elderly people are happy with any news from the world, they will look forward to your letters and postcards. At the same time, it does not matter where you live, because ordinary letters sent by mail connect the most different corners of the globe.
2. You can help the elderly living on their own and in nursing homes with money. Let's talk about financial aid.
You can buy essentials and take them to nursing homes or donate the package to volunteers. What do you need to buy?
nursing homes usually need adult diapers, personal care items, medical equipment;
those who live on their own also have their own needs. You need to find out before buying.
You can visit old people in a remote village, buy them a supply of food, chop wood for the winter.
Remember that low-income pensioners live not only in your city. There are especially many of them in the villages, where they live out their lives, unable to leave. You can collect a food parcel and send it to those in need.
In order for your initiative to definitely become useful and reach the right addressee, look for like-minded people on the Internet. For example, the Tugeza community can offer many options for charitable assistance to the elderly. In addition to financial support, you can help the elderly with repairs, cleaning, laundry, etc.
You can regularly follow ongoing charitable events. For example, "Give firewood" - an action whose purpose was to raise funds for the elderly living in houses with stove heating.
A good way to help the elderly would be a corporate community work day at a nursing home. Its meaning is to, in the shortest possible time, with the help of several dozen people, make cosmetic repairs and equip the territory of the nursing home - break flower beds, clean paths, put up benches for walking, etc.
3. Nursing home patients who can walk, as well as single elderly people living on their own, can be taken to places that are important to them. Usually this is a cemetery - to visit the graves of relatives and friends, a clinic, a church.
4. You can help older people get some services through electronic programs, help them deal with technology.
5. If you don't have time for personal assistance, you can help the elderly by making a donation to their benefit. The money will be used to pay care assistants, nannies.
For starters, you can contact a charitable organization. There are charitable foundations that specialize specifically in helping the elderly - "Old Age in Joy", "Sofia", "Good Deed", "Union of Generations". Many organizations are engaged in charity in several areas, including helping the elderly. ("Tradition", Orthodox help service "Mercy",
