Can You Help Your Elderly Loved One Take Care of Their Personal Hygiene?

If you are providing care for your elderly loved one, one thing that you should look at is their personal hygiene. There are many elderly people who just don’t care about taking care of their personal hygiene. There are other elderly people who can’t physically take care of their personal hygiene. No matter what is going on with your elderly loved one, you and elder care providers can help them with personal hygiene tasks.

Figuring Out the Problem

The first step to help your elderly loved one with their personal hygiene is to figure out what the problem is. Why isn’t your elderly loved one taking care of their personal hygiene? Do they not care anymore? Does it cause them too much pain to do it on their own? Once you can get to the source of the problem, you can help your elderly loved one to make a plan to care for their personal hygiene. The plan might include you or an elder care provider helping out. It might include giving your loved one reminders to care for their personal hygiene, as well.

Creating a Routine

You might also want to help your elderly loved one create routines for their personal hygiene. For instance, in the morning before they go to eat breakfast, they should get dressed and brush their hair. After they eat their breakfast, they can brush their teeth and floss. You should also help them to create nighttime personal hygiene routines, too. If your elderly loved one needs motivation to take care of personal hygiene tasks, you may want to encourage them to turn on music.

Safety is Important

Maybe your elderly loved one recently had a fall while in the bathroom brushing their teeth or taking a bath. If this is the case, they might be afraid to go into the bathroom. This might be why they aren’t brushing their hair, brushing their teeth, or taking a shower. If your elderly loved one isn’t taking care of their personal hygiene and recently had a fall, talk to them about what happened. You might find they are scared. If this is the case, you can make their bathroom safer for them. They may also need or want someone to be in the bathroom with them.

Conclusion

These are some of the ways that you can help your elderly loved one to take care of their personal hygiene. If you or the elder care providers notice that your loved one isn’t brushing their teeth, brushing their hair, or taking showers regularly, you can help them to handle their personal hygiene tasks from this point forward.

 If you or an aging loved one are considering Elder Care in Colts Neck, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Lares Home Care 888-492-3538 or 732-566-1112. 

Sources

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/personal-hygiene

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Roy Kleinert

Owner at Lares Home Care

Roy Kleinert founded Lares Home Care in 2015, when he decided to leave Wall Street and make a shift into the home care industry. During the illness of a family member, he recognized an opportunity to help seniors better age in place with dignity and grace. Roy lives in Marlboro, NJ with his family and his three dogs. Roy is also the certified handler of Lares therapy dogs: Max and Boomer. Together, they visit local hospitals, rehab facilities, and senior living communities, bringing “four-legged-cheer” wherever they go. Lares Home Care is dedicated to providing the highest quality of client care and customer service.

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