Senior Care Victoria wants to encourage you to connect with your elderly family members, friends or acquaintances during this difficult and isolating time. Although face to face isn’t possible, there are different ways to connect  such as  calling them on the phone, FaceTime, WhatsApp or Zoom.  Our seniors in independent living, assisted living and care homes are the most isolated of all and are feeling the hit the hardest. One 89 year old senior of Dutch decent remarked when called by his daughter “I had the best day, not just a few phone calls but one from my friend Bert that sometimes takes me to Church.  He had the old Dutch hymn book from when we were kids, and we sang Dutch hymns together for a long time.  It was wonderful!  …. As he launches off into one of the hymns which he knows all the words by heart”  This is what reaching out to seniors is about.  We need to reach out further than our curbs, our back yards, our parks and community to think of those truly shut in.  These are the most vulnerable and it brings new meaning to the term ‘they died from loneliness’.  Reach out to someone today.  Remember an old relative whose heart will be filled with joy and given a reason to live on.  Believe me, we’ve heard many a senior say ‘I’m ready to go’.  They lived through a war, and a depression, and for many they are saying it’s the worst thing that has happened since that time. Take one person and make them your daily contact – tell them you are thinking about them, praying for strength for them or there for them to call you and talk to.

Visiting parents or family members with advanced cognitive decline may be somewhat disconcerting at best and requires some advance planning.  Often family members leave a visit feeling lost and confused because they weren’t able to effectively communicate to their loved one.  Verbal communication is not necessarily the only means to effective visitation practices.  Conducting an […]