
For elders, friendship is even more important than for young people. Unfortunately, with retirement, a person’s circle of communication may be greatly reduced. This often creates psychological difficulties and increases the need for support and understanding from friends and family. Yet, the younger generation lives at a completely different wave and has other problems. Therefore, it is in friendly communication that older people realize the psychological need for human warmth and moral support. So, if you are interested in expert companionship services in Brooklyn, NY, or somewhere else, keep on reading!
Why is communication so important for people of age?
Older people who are cared for, and receive timely medication, household chores, and other forms of assistance, need communication for good health. Galaxy Home Care is always ready to provide it. This company boasts of the best care services specialists that are also good companions.
The three reasons why old people need to communicate:
- Conversation serves as a means for the elderly to switch attention from unpleasant sensations and negative thoughts. In this way, older persons are distracted from the internal dialogue, which, due to the characteristics of the older person’s body, can cause anxiety and depressive thoughts.
- Live communication gives people in the years the opportunity to feel their involvement in the events taking place around them. While silence and silence make them feel excluded from the event flow, and hence from life.
- In conversation, older people like to share memories, returning, thus, in their youth, when health was much better, and they were surrounded by close people who are likely to be dead. In conversation, they are simultaneously distracted from their own inner experiences, mentally involved in the events
How does an older generation make friends?
The most sociable does not require any effort to make a new acquaintance. For those who suffer from loneliness but are afraid to have a conversation with strangers there are several suitable options:
- Do your favorite thing! Let it be a vegetable garden, singing, or swimming. Passion will give the opportunity to find new friends up to interests.
- Learn! Currently, there are many courses for people of retirement and pre-retirement age, and this is not only new knowledge and training for the mind but also new contacts and acquaintances.
- Join a community organization! Find what suits your interests, be it the Union of Russian Pensioners or a company that provides assistance to homeless animals.
- Social networks! With them, you can find people with whom you have broken communication, friends of youth, and those who will share with you good memories.
Scientists say
Many studies show that friendship has a positive impact on both the longevity and quality of life of older people:
- Experts from the Northwestern University of the United States, based on the tests, concluded that friendly communication and active interaction with society in adulthood can significantly reduce the rate of brain aging. Several dozen people over the age of 80 participated in their research. It was found that the acuteness of mind and the ability to carry out tasks quickly and efficiently were characterized by the subjects with a wide range of communication and the desire to maintain friendships.
- British scientists, after analyzing several thousand contacts of older people, concluded that the health of those people over 60 who often communicated with friends at least by phone is much better than the health of those who communicate only with children and relatives.
Companionship services for elderlies
The general care of the elderly is understood to mean meeting basic needs and providing the necessary assistance in everyday life.
Professional caregiver for the elderly has a wide range of responsibilities, which include the following:
- Implementation of sanitation and hygiene measures. Caregivers for the elderly should be able to wash, bathe, wash the wards, and timely change underwear and bedding. She must know how to perform these actions accurately and efficiently, so as not to harm the patient. A high-quality sanitation regime makes it possible to prevent the development and spread of infections and to accelerate recovery.
- Cleaning and ventilation of the room, providing access to sunlight. Even if the elderly person retains a high level of independence, it is increasingly difficult to maintain a clean room in which they live. So the help of a nurse in this matter is very important.
- Assisting in feeding, managing the body’s natural needs, and ship feeding. Eating and emptying the bladder and intestines are among the basic human needs. Some illnesses make it impossible to feed and recuperate. In such cases, the responsibility of nursing for the elderly includes this delicate point.
- Physiological control. The nurse should regularly measure temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and blood sugar. In addition, the caregiver must organize the correct schedule of the day and gently monitor its implementation.
- Drug therapy, procedures, and manipulations are prescribed by the attending physician. The nurse should ensure timely administration of medicines in the required amount, if necessary – to perform injections, to put the drip, to change the catheter, and urinary system.
- Organization of proper and timely nutrition. The diet of the elderly must fully satisfy the body’s needs for proteins, fats, carbohydrates, trace elements, and vitamins. The dietary menu is based on the recommendations of the attending physician and takes into account the individual intolerance of dishes. Dishes should be tasty, nutritious, and nicely served.
- Complication Prevention. The caregiver must carefully monitor the skin condition of recumbent patients in order to prevent bedsores, correctly determine the type of lesions, if any, of the skin integuments, and take measures to eliminate them.
- Creating a positive atmosphere. A good nurse for a sick elderly person becomes their real friend who will cheer up, calm the patient, and discuss everyday issues. This is also called companionship services. If you need some in Brooklyn, NY, pay attention to Galaxy Home Care.
Wrapping it up
Aging is accompanied not only by physical but also by psychological changes in personality. Among other things, the sensitivity to the manifestations of attention and care increases, and the role of friendship increases. Feelings of abandonment, compounded by the loss of social roles, can be compensated by friendly participation and attention.
In addition, it has long been observed that single people live less than those who maintain social contact. Constant and close contact with friends helps the elderly cope with their problems and distracts them from dark thoughts.
Leave a Reply