Staying Involved in Your Loved One’s Care Is So Important

There are instances when after admitting a loved one to a nursing home, staying involved in your loved one’s care decreases. It could be that the family is simply responding to months or years of stress due to the care that preceded the admission. Or they fear that frequent visits will make things harder for their loved ones and themselves. And in some cases, they are just too preoccupied with their routines. All of these are very natural reactions but regardless of the reasons for less contact, most experts agree that it’s not what’s best.

The Positive Impact of Staying Involved in Your Loved One’s Care

Staying involved can go a long way towards helping your loved one stay happy and healthy. After all, feeling lonely or sad can have direct adverse effects on health and wellness. In some cases, those feelings are unavoidable to some degree, but making regular visits can help lift spirits and keep your loved ones on a positive wellness journey.

More Advantages of Frequent Visits

When you visit during visiting hours on a regular basis, your loved one benefits by having yet another set of concerning eyes on them. Nobody knows them better than you do, and nursing home staff can grow accustomed to seeing sickness in their patients, so new illnesses or injuries may go unnoticed until they become serious. So, the more you visit, the better chance that you might pick up on something before it even becomes an issue.

The Benefits for Your Loved One Don’t Stop There

If that weren’t enough reasons already, there are other health benefits for checking in regularly. Residents with frequent visitors are much happier and friendlier. And an outgoing, upbeat resident is more likely to engage with staff. Hospitals have shown that more social, and friendly patients get much better care and more attention.

Let’s be honest, it’s never easy to give up control of your loved one’s health to someone other than you and your family. However, by staying involved you can not only maintain some of that control, but you can also make your loved one’s long-term care experience a much happier, healthier, and more positive one.