What Is “Respite Care?”
“Being a Parent to Your Parent” is no longer cliché in 2018.
With seniors living longer than ever before, baby boomers and millennials are increasingly faced with the daunting (albeit rewarding) task of caring for an elderly parent or grandparent at home.
For some, ‘home’ is the house they grew up in as children, as they coordinate and manage the daily care of their loved ones, thereby allowing them to age in place. For others, ‘home’ means bringing Mom or Dad into their own homes to care for them as one of their immediate family.
Regardless, both approaches require huge reservoirs of self-sacrifice, dedication and commitment, to see to the physical and emotional needs of an aging loved one while maintaining one’s own family.
However, the sober reality is that we are all human and many of us also rely on a dual income to support our families. Therefore, to juggle our myriad responsibilities of raising and supporting our children, while caring for elderly parents or grandparents simultaneously, inevitably leads to ‘burnout.’
Burnout, isn’t just a physical sense of depletion on the part of the caregiver, but an emotional one too.
In fact, it often manifests itself in the form of resentment, where the caregiver becomes upset with their loved one for the physically rigorous and emotionally draining toll they have inadvertently placed upon them.
When this happens, it is critically important to consider respite care.
What is respite care?
Respite care allows the caregiver to take a break from their endless responsibilities by temporarily placing their loved one in substitute care.
Taking care of an aging parent requires a lot of time, money and physical strength, but perhaps most of all, it requires lots of energy. Respite care can give the caregiver the chance to take a break and recharge.
Why is respite care important?
If a caregiver gives of themselves endlessly without taking a break, it will certainly lead to the inevitable burnout and resentment, mentioned earlier. However, it’s much more than that. Without a proper break, both the caregiver and the person being cared for, will undoubtedly experience a deterioration in their physical health and well-being.
Therefore, it is indeed in everyone’s best interests for the caregiver to get away for a brief respite of R&R, so that they may return refreshed and revitalized!
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