SYNERGY HomeCare Blog

Remember when you were excited to grow up and be independent, making your own life decisions?  Oh, those rites of passage— wearing makeup or shaving. That was a long time ago and the memories are indelible.

When a loved one is affected by dementia, everyone around them is affected. Children of elderly parents often find themselves struggling with how to handle the emotional extremes and outbursts that often come with dementia. Symptoms of dementia show up as memory loss, confusion, disorientation, and intense anger. Anger and aggression are the symptoms that can be challenging to manage for any caregiver, not just children of a parent with dementia. 

The Pros and Cons

The COVID-19 pandemic has a lot of people on edge, particularly those who are concerned with the well-being of loved ones at high-risk of contracting the virus. The CDC states “The risk for severe illness with COVID-19 increases with age, with older adults at highest risk. Severe illness means that a person diagnosed with COVID-19 may require hospitalization, intensive care, a ventilator to help them breathe or may even die.” 

As we climb into 2021, the COVID crisis continues to present challenges for everyone. Caregivers, who are already overwhelmed and struggle with feelings of isolation, continue to push through, but the National Alliance for Caregiving says that today, caregivers are at an even greater risk for health, emotional, financial and work-related problems because of COVID related restrictions.  

As the adult children of aging parents, you may be hyper-alert to your parents' physical and mental health. In-person visits are opportunities to assess your loved ones and to pick-up on signals of cognitive decline. As the holidays roll around, COVID-19 has caused another potential risk in the health and safety of aging adults as they are less likely to have in-person visits from loved ones who can pick up on red flags of declining health.