5 Tips for Helping a Senior with Poor Hygiene

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Helping a Senior with Poor Hygiene in Edmonton, AB

Good personal hygiene can enhance socialization, prevent infections, and boost quality of life. However, many seniors face difficulty with daily tasks pertaining to cleanliness, including bathing, laundry, and oral care. Family caregivers should step in to ensure their aging loved ones receive assistance with everyday tasks, including personal grooming and household chores. Continue reading to find tips you can use when helping a loved one with poor hygiene.

1. Communicate Effectively

Before stepping in to help your loved one with baths, showers, and other personal tasks, ask how he or she feels about your presence. Your parent deserves respect, and it could be degrading if you begin to take over without discussing the changes with him or her. If your loved one feels disrespected, he or she could make baths and mealtimes difficult for you or an at-home caregiver. Effective communication could ease the transition and help your loved one maintain proper hygiene.

A professional caregiver can help your loved one with a variety of tasks at home, including maintaining hygiene. Many seniors prefer aging in place over moving to an assisted living facility. If your senior loved one needs assistance to remain safe and comfortable while living at home, reach out to Home Care Assistance, a leading homecare agency. Our dedicated in-home caregivers can assist with meal prep, bathing and grooming, exercise, medication reminders, and many other important tasks.

2. Use Scented Hygiene Products

Soaps, shampoos, and similar products can get your loved one clean and keep him or her feeling refreshed. When choosing scented products, make sure the items won’t irritate your loved one’s skin or make him or her feel nauseated. Keep the products handy so your loved one doesn’t need to step out of the shower to reach them and increase the risk of falling. When applying lotions and skin moisturizers, using a gentle touch to make the process more pleasant could ease your loved one’s mind when it comes to grooming.

3. Consider Health Limitations

Your loved one may not like to bathe frequently due to poor bone health or skin conditions. Therefore, you should consider these health issues when creating a bathing routine. To prevent aches and pains or skin irritation and dryness, schedule full baths every other day. If your loved one’s health worsens, you may need to reduce bathing to once or twice per week, which can still prevent skin breakdown and infections.

If you’re the primary family caregiver for a senior loved one living in Edmonton, live-in care is available if your loved one’s health has become too difficult to handle without professional expertise. At Home Care Assistance, we take measures to help seniors prevent illness and injury by assisting with exercise and mobility, preparing nutritious meals, helping with bathing and other personal hygiene tasks, and much more.

4. Take Trips to Beauty Salons and Spas

Going to the hairdresser or barbershop can keep your parent’s hair clean and trimmed. It might also help if you take your loved one to the nail salon and spa as often as possible. Being pampered by trained professionals might make your loved one more open to receiving assistance. If you have the time and budget, schedule a beauty date with your parent. Going to the salon or spa together gives you time to bond while boosting hygiene. Getting your loved one out of the home could also increase socialization and lower the risk of depression.

5. Use Home Care

If your loved one has decided to age in place, consider hiring a caregiver to come in and help with the household chores. Keeping the home clean and clothes washed could prevent health issues such as infections. The caregiver can run errands for your parent, ensuring he or she has all the toiletries and products necessary to maintain a clean home and good hygiene.

If your elderly loved one needs help maintaining a high quality of life while aging in place, reach out to Home Care Assistance, a trusted provider of Edmonton elderly home care. Our caregivers provide transportation to and from medical appointments and social events, nutritious meal preparation, assistance with daily exercise, and help with everyday tasks like bathing, grooming, and light housekeeping. Reach out to one of our Care Managers today at (780) 490-7337 to learn more about our high-quality home care services.

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