What is the content of daily care for the elderly?

The essence of daily care for the elderly is personalized care actions customized based on the elderly's self-care ability, basic disease conditions, and personal living habits. The core focuses on three directions: physical comfort, functional maintenance, and emotional support. There is no completely unified fixed list.

Take the two elderly people in the community where I previously served as an example. The 73-year-old Aunt Chen only suffers from degenerative knee disease and cannot walk very far. She can take care of the rest of her life on her own. Most of her daily care includes helping her carry the heavy items she purchases online to the fifth floor. She also visits her home to cut her toenails once a week. She has difficulty bending over and can easily cut her nails, which can lead to paronychia. She is called every day to remind her to take blood-lipid-lowering medicine. She is particularly satisfied when she has time to chat with her about her past days as a primary school teacher. However, the 81-year-old Grandpa Wang from the same community has Alzheimer's disease and hemiplegia due to cerebral infarction. The care needs to be much more detailed. He must be helped to turn over every two hours to avoid pressure sores. When feeding, the food must be made into a thick paste to prevent choking and coughing. When he suffers from aspiration pneumonia, he should be helped to move his limbs on the affected side every day to avoid muscle atrophy due to disuse. Even if he often cannot recognize people, he should be talked to him every day and tell the little things about his grandson's recent exams. His mood will be much more stable and he will rarely lose his temper.

Nowadays, the industry actually has different views on the standards of daily care. Some institutions promote "undifferentiated comfort care", which helps the elderly do everything they can to avoid the elderly being tired or falling and bumping, thus reducing the risk of care.； However, most of our caregivers who have been on the front line for a long time prefer "moderate care". As long as the elderly can still complete the actions independently, try to encourage them to do it by themselves. For example, if they can still button the buttons themselves, don't reach out to help, and if they can hold the table and carry the water cup, don't hand it to their hands. On the contrary, it can help the elderly retain their current living ability and slow down the speed of aging.

I met a 76-year-old man before. He recovered well after a stroke and could walk slowly with a walker. At first, his children were afraid that he would fall, so they did everything for him. They brought food in front of them and helped him put on his clothes. As a result, the old man stayed in his room every day without talking, and sometimes secretly wiped his tears. Later, we adjusted the way we cared for him. Every day, we accompanied him to the balcony to water the clivia he had raised for more than ten years. We slowly practiced holding a spoon to eat by himself. We even walked with him slowly to the door to pick up express delivery. In just over two months, he was able to go downstairs and play chess with his old friend on his own using a walker. His whole spirit was different, and he smiled when he saw people.

To put it bluntly, daily care for the elderly is never about completing tasks according to a list. It is more like watering an old potted plant that has been maintained for many years. Watering too much rotten roots and too little dead leaves must be done according to the real needs of the elderly, so that the care can be truly taken care of.