Home Care for Veterans
Sarah was taking care of her elderly grandfather for more than six months. He had served during the Korean War and even though Sarah didn’t have a strong relationship with him growing up, at 24 years of age, she had a strong compassion to help seniors. In fact, for a time during her college years she worked for an agency providing various home care services to seniors throughout the community.
Because her grandfather was a veteran, she wanted to make sure he got the right level of care as he aged. He was dealing with a number of health issues, including post traumatic stress disorder. It was difficult for him to ask for help and at times it seemed as though he was uncomfortable with the situation, but after a month things became much better for the both of them.
One thing Sarah didn’t count on, though, was just how much time she devoted to taking care of her grandfather. After her mother passed away, Sarah knew her grandfather was going to require extra care at some point in time, and the last thing she wanted was for him to move into a nursing home or some other facility where he might be forgotten or neglected. Even though the quality of care in these facilities has increased tremendously through the years, Sarah wanted to get closer to her grandfather, learn more about his life, and make sure he got the proper level of care.
She was working two part-time time jobs to make ends meet, and even though it was extremely difficult, she still made the time to be there for him. After a while, though, she began to notice she was more fatigued, getting sick more frequently, and feeling the effects of stress and anxiety.
Sarah learned a valuable lesson that many other family caregivers have to learn at some point in time: they need to take care of themselves, too.
Sarah had to accept the reality that she didn’t have the right kind of time her grandfather needed to ensure that he was safe and well taken care of around-the-clock. Eventually her grandfather also recognized the strain it was taking on her and sat down to discuss hiring a few caregivers part-time to assist her.
This allowed Sarah to get exercise, eat right, and spend some time with her friends, which are all important for anyone to take care of themselves properly. Providing care for an elderly veteran at home is certainly noble, but not at the expense of one’s own health and well-being.
For more information and to learn about home care for veterans, contact Veteran’s Home Care at (888) 314-6075.
