Is It Dangerous for Your Elderly Loved One to Live By Themselves?

Are you wondering how your elderly loved one is going to live by themselves as they get older? You might even think it is dangerous for them to do this. Depending on your elderly loved one’s health conditions, state of mind, mobility, and some other factors, they may or may not be able to live on their own. It is important to assess various things including socialization, daily responsibilities, cognitive health, support, medical care needed, and other things when determining the safety of your elderly loved one.  

Possible Issues

If you are thinking about whether your loved one can live by themselves, you must also think about possible issues. For instance, do they have Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease? How severe are their symptoms? Are they still able to communicate with others or do they have issues with this? Do they experience delusions or hallucinations? Are they able to tell people what they need through verbal or non-verbal cues? It is important to figure out what issues might be present if your elderly loved one keeps living by themselves. For some issues, senior care services might be able to help your elderly loved one. If the issues are too severe and they need constant care, other options might need to be considered.  

Assessing the State of Your Loved One’s Living Situation 

If your elderly loved one is going to keep living on their own, someone needs to assess their living situation? Is your loved one able to do things on their own? If they have a degenerative condition, do you have a plan for when it gets worse? Will they receive additional senior care services or are they going to need more help than that?  

 

How is your loved one’s home? Do they need someone to do all the cleaning for them, even the deep cleaning? If this is the case, they might not be able to live on their own anymore. However, if they only need light cleaning done, a senior care provider might be able to assist with this.  

 

Can your elderly loved one cook at all or do they need someone to do this for them? Are they going to remember to turn the stove off after they use it? If not, it might be best to hire someone to cook for them.  

Conclusion 

These are some of the things that you need to think about when considering whether your elderly loved one can live by themselves. If they have a condition that impairs their entire ability to care for themselves, they might need to get additional help. However, there are numerous senior care services that could assist your elderly loved one that you might want to check into, as well.  

 

If you or an aging loved-one is considering Senior Care in Lodi , CA please contact the caring staff at Aging Assistant today. (916) 897-4752 

 

Sources 

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/aging-place-growing-older-home 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3843313/