Creating Comfort: 5 Things To Send With A Loved One To The Nursing Home
Posted on: 11 December 2015
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When you are faced with no longer being able to personally care for an aging loved one, it can be difficult to transition to placing them in the care of a nursing home. Even though this transition is likely hard on you, it can be even more difficult for your loved one. The key to helping everything go a bit smoother is to help your family member feel comfortable with their surroundings. There are five things that you should make sure your loved one takes with them when they move into a nursing home.
1. Family Photos - You never want to give your loved one the impression that they will be left in a nursing home alone, but they will always need those reminders around that there are people who love them. Therefore, sending a few family photos with them when they move to a nursing home facility is crucial. When they are able to wake every morning to familiar faces, even in photographs, it will do a lot for their emotional well-being.
2. Favorite Blankets - If your family member has a special quilt, throw, or blanket that they commonly sleep with, it can be helpful to send this item with them to the nursing home. Just like you may have a hard time sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, so will your family member when they stay those first few nights in their new room. A blanket from home can help them feel less peculiar about the change.
3. Television - Not all nursing home facilities provide televisions to the residents that come in. Therefore, it is best to make sure that your family member will have access to a TV while they are in their new home. Check with the nursing home director to find out what type and size television is allowed and if you need to make sure it is provided.
4. A Cell Phone - Even though there may be a phone available in your loved one's new room at the nursing home, it will always be comforting for them if they have a portable phone that they can use to reach out to you at any time they want. Some nursing homes do have restrictions on what electronics can be brought into the facility, so make sure you check to make sure a cell phone is something your family member will be allowed to keep.
For a local nursing home, contact a facility such as Hilltop House.