Tips for Long-Distance Caregiving

Trying to take care of a parent or close relative from far away can be one of the biggest challenges many people face. However, with modern technology and services that offer personalized care for seniors or individuals who need extra assistance, taking care of someone you love from hundreds or thousands of miles away doesn’t have to be as daunting as it once was.

Long-distance caregiving can be a complicated process, and it can seem very challenging to find the right people to care for the person you love when you are not there to do it yourself. However, with these following tips, you will find that there is a lot you can do even if you are not as close to the person as you wish you could be.

One vital step to caring for someone who is a long-distance away is to understand as much as you can about the person’s needs. This step is especially important if the person is under some sort of memory care or may have dementia or Alzheimer’s. Understanding the person’s daily routines, habits, likes, dislikes, medications, and medical information can help you communicate clearly to the team of caregivers exactly what the person needs in order to maintain a healthy and independent lifestyle for as long as possible.

Also, be sure that at least one person in the family has written and documented permission to receive medical information about the person you are trying to care for from afar.

Plan to visit your family member or friend that you are caring for on a regular basis. During these trips, you can spend time with your family member or friend and also help them with things that are outside of the traditional routine caregiver’s duties. Whether they need help doing routine maintenance around the house (i.e., deep cleaning, changing light bulbs, going through old clothes, etc.) or you choose to attend certain doctor’s appointments or other important events with them, visiting will allow you both to stay in contact on a regular basis. A regularly scheduled visit can also lift both of your spirits as you may be far away from each other most of the time. That bonding gives you time to look forward to spending together.

Whether you teleconference into doctor’s appointments, plan to Zoom chat on a regular basis, text message throughout the day, or talk on the phone a certain day each week, keeping in touch with your loved one or friend is vital to understanding how they are doing and what their well-being is like at any specific time. Talking to other people who spend a lot of time with your friend or loved one can also help paint an image in your head of how the other person is doing and what you might need to be aware of in the future.

If you are caring for someone who is in memory care or has dementia or Alzheimer’s, then this step might be even more important. Consider either keeping the person’s paperwork and files or at least copies of them on hand at all times. These files would include things like personal, health, financial, and legal records that you might need as you provide long-distance caregiving to the person. The initiation steps of collecting all of these pieces of paperwork can be quite time-consuming, but once you have the information together, the information and paperwork will make other caregiving tasks in the future easier.  Also, remember that the more information you have, the easier it will become to handle a crisis, should one arise.

Ensuring that the people you are hiring or partnering with to take care of your relative or friend are competent in their work is critical to ensuring they get the best possible care. You want caregivers who are licensed for their work and have extensive knowledge of how to take care of people with the conditions that your friend or relative has. You also want someone who can provide reference checks to ensure that they are trustworthy, reliable, and competent to do what they do.

If you need help from other people, then there is nothing wrong with reaching out to family and friends that you trust and care about to ask for help. Sometimes all you have to do is simply ask someone else to help lighten your load. Friends, family, and those around you will likely be happy to help and will be honored that you chose them when you needed someone the most.

Making time for yourself might sound cliché and even ridiculous, but it’s actually vital to avoiding caregiver burnout , even from a long distance away. In addition to letting others help, tacking time for yourself is also important in your daily life. Whether you go do something you enjoy or spend time with your own family, making sure that you are taking care of yourself will, in turn, help you take better care of your family member or friend who needs you to help care for them.

In the end, having the proper caregivers helping care for your family member or loved one can help put your mind at ease. Thoughtful Care is here to help ensure that you are hiring only the most conscientious and caring caregivers for your family member or friend who is in need of additional care. Please contact us for further assistance in finding someone who is able to help take care of your family member or loved one. We are here to help, and we will work with you, even over long-distance caregiving, to ensure that the special people in your life get the care they need and live life with the dignity that they deserve.