Caregivers Complete Resource Guide For Canadian Family Caregivers

Who are Caregivers?

Caregivers are the ones who are skilled and experienced in providing physical and psychological care to elderly people. Caregivers assist people who are unable to help themselves completely on their own because of deteriorating health, illness, or injury. These caregivers provide support in meeting the regular requirements of another person. These responsibilities range from bathing, dressing, feeding, traveling, grocery shopping, household chores, managing incontinence, helping them walk, stand, or perform any kind of mobility activities. They are also in charge of meal preparation, dispensing medicines, and communicating with health care professionals.

While caring for elderly parents, family caregivers do not get paid. But in certain circumstances, funding is available. There are some programs that pay family caregivers for taking care of the seniors in the family.

What are the daily caregiving tasks for the elderly?

Indeed, caring for elderly people at home, whether they are your parents, grandparents, or any other family members, is not at all easy. You have to take care of multiple things simultaneously, which can make you overwhelmed.

For elderly individuals, when the simplest tasks like brushing their own teeth or lifting a pen from the floor become heavy, then the actual hurdles begin. The caregivers who are mostly family members have to be on their toes all the time around them.

However, in spite of that, there are some tasks that you need to do every day strategically. With these tasks, you give warmth, respect, and practical assistance to the seniors and help them stay grounded, connected, and comfortable in their own home.

Preparing nourishing meals and snacks

When you make a snack or a meal for the elderly person and eat along with them, it feels like a warm hug wrapped in a plate. Besides preparing healthy meals and supporting them in the kitchen (provided they have not lost their mobility), you can also take full responsibility for the grocery shopping. This makes them enjoy the tastes that they love, feel nourished, and smile all along.

Gentle Bathing, Dressing, and Grooming

Caring for elderly parents is not always limited to making meals and snacks. At times, they need basic assistance with some core intimate daily activities. When you kindly help your senior individuals with daily tasks to start the day fresh, it makes a major difference in their world. With kindness and patience, caregivers help seniors to bathe, choose clothes, do their hair, and help them brush their own teeth. These small acts have a major impact on their mood and dignity.

Safe Movement and Mobility Assistance

Many elderly people have been reported to get back injuries simply getting out of their armchair or sofa. Even many people have been admitted to hospitals because of accidental falls while moving around the corridors, rooms, or bathrooms. To avoid these scenarios, helping them to walk, reposition, or stand will keep their steps careful and mindful.

Cleaning up rooms and laundry

Keeping a tidy home is also one way of taking care of elderly parents as it lifts their spirits. When you vacuum every day and maintain a properly clean house, and always wash the seniors' clothes, these activities gently restore their positivity. They feel familiar and at peace in their own home as they know they are in good hands. This not only keeps their physical health in check and helps prevent infections, but also assists in mental healing.

Boosting Cognitive Health

Taking care of elderly parents also includes keeping tabs on their mental health. With mental health engagement, seniors can improve their memory, focus, and emotional well being. Caregivers suggest those activities based on the elderly person’s interests and abilities. So keep them engaged in playing different board games or cards. Apart from that, help them work on puzzles, word games adjusted to their level, or sudoku. Even discussing current events and personal interests would help them jog their memory. These are highly beneficial for people who are struggling with dementia.

Having friendly conversations and building companionship

The core of caregiving lies in building connections. You may be busy fulfilling all the needs of the seniors, but when you sit for at least 2 minutes with them and have a chat or just listen to what they are saying, it makes them feel more connected to reality and included within the family. So share stories with them, crack jokes, or spend a quiet afternoon to spread warmth and purpose, turning routine, boring moments into long lasting memories.

Engage in new hobbies and daily routines

To keep seniors actively engaged, it's better if you keep engaging them in daily activities, provided their physical health permits. Like watering plants, reading newspapers, sorting old photos, or simple small tasks in the kitchen. This will bring joy and meaning back to your elderly parents.

24-Hour Assistance

Apart from fulfilling all these tasks, family caregivers also provide 24 hour comfort. For seniors who experience anxiety while sleeping alone, they need someone beside them. This around the clock attention includes checking on them overnight, assisting them during restless nights, and always making sure that they are staying close to something priceless. But it takes a toll on the health of the caregivers. That's why many families hire professional caregivers to deal with those activities that they can no longer do.

Roles and responsibilities of family caregivers for elderly parents

The roles and responsibilities of the family caregivers are not limited to assisting seniors or individually doing daily activities. These go much more than that. In short, they are the hands-on providers and primary advocates who are always balancing safety, nutrition, and overall life quality for their loved ones.

Running Errands and Attending Appointments

Caring for elderly is not limited to taking household responsibilities. Whether you are going to a pharmacy to buy medicines or taking them to the doctor for a checkup, family caregivers are the ultimate help that seniors can ask for. Not only this, for any kind of major test appointments or diagnostic screenings, these family caregivers are the ultimate help at home. As seniors can't schedule appointments on their own, family caregivers review them thoroughly and contact their health care providers. Family caregivers need not be the legal guardians of the seniors to help them.

Financial and Legal Management

When people age and are unable to manage money for household expenses, medical expenses, or anything else, family caregivers assist them and, in some cases, also take complete charge. They completely take care of their elderly loved ones in their best interest. Caring for elderly parents includes balancing immediate cash flow requirements with long term asset protection. Managing income streams means taking care of the pensions (if any), government benefits, retirement distributions, and also ensuring essential bills of rent, mortgage, utilities, insurance, and taxes. Apart from this, maintaining an updated ledger of seniors’ bank accounts, investment portfolios, and deeds is also a duty of the family caregivers. Not every senior is eligible for government benefits. Therefore, structuring assets in advance for future medical requirements is also a notable role of family caregivers managing their senior’s assets.

Installing home safety issues

Take a look around your home. Regular, simple household items can become hazardous when an impaired senior person lives there. If you can identify them on your own, that's absolutely fine, but there are agencies that can help family caregivers identify the comfort and safety additions to your living space. The specifications you need to consider while caring for elderly parents are

• Install handrails on the side of the staircases, if possible, on both sides, so that they can safely take support from these while climbing up and down the stairs. Most importantly, you do not always have to worry about or support them while climbing stairs.
• Install a raised toilet seat so that they do not have to bend much while sitting and can easily get up without hurting their back.
• Grab bars in bathrooms (beside showers and bathtubs), any undulating areas, gardens, and entrances are a must for seniors to have some physical support.
• Accidental falls are the major reason behind any kind of injuries among seniors. Bathrooms and wet floors are the dangerous zones. So keep non-slippery mats on the floor to avoid accidental slipping.
• Install nightlights, especially LED lights beside the bed, hallways, and staircases, so that they can easily move around without getting hurt. Preferably, install senior lights so they do not have to look around in the dark for the switch.
• Always save emergency numbers on the speed dial on the senior’s phone, or in an easy to see place.

Burnout prevention for the family caregivers

Caregiver burnout means that a family caregiver becomes emotionally and physically exhausted or depleted from taking care of their elderly parents or someone close to them. When you take full responsibility for the elderly care without much time for yourself, you naturally become irritable, resentful, and anxious. So, if caring for elderly parents or any of your loved ones is becoming too much for you, follow some tips.

Take care of yourself

Start with taking frequent breaks in between caregiving. Apart from this, you can follow some self care techniques, including doing yoga, meditation, light exercises, and trying to get sound sleep for 8 hours. Go for some recreation activities that you enjoy.

Having realistic expectations

You need to be aware of your capability. Do not overexert yourself. You have to accept that you can provide a certain level of care, not beyond that. Also know when you need third party assistance who can share your responsibilities.

Join a support group

There are people in a support group who can understand your situation, and you can confide in them. This will cheer you up, see problems through different angles, and relax you, which can lead to an overall solution to the problems you are facing. This support group could be a prime safe space for making friends. You can join groups like Caregivers Alberta Support Groups and Nova Scotia Health Authority.

Ask for professional help

At times, these small tips are not quite enough. In this scenario, seek professional support to ease you and your elderly family member out of the situation. Family caregivers get relief from daily tasks as professional caregivers are hired to take care of the seniors. It can be temporary or permanent at your home or in any assisted living space. Choose as per your and your elderly family member’s flexibility. When someone reliable and experienced is taking care of your family member, you can rest for a while, travel, or focus on other responsibilities. Even in your absence, your elderly family member will not be deprived of necessary care.

Financial resources and government assistance provided to family caregivers

There are several federal and provincial programs designed to provide relief to family caregivers.

Federal programs and benefits

Canadian family caregivers can access several federal programs and benefits while caring for elderly parents or any other senior citizen in their family.

Canada Caregiver Credit

It is a tax credit plan mainly developed to acknowledge and support the vital role of caregivers helping elderly family members facing severe physical and mental problems. The credit can support caregivers by minimizing the amount of the income tax that they need to pay. So this government scheme provides financial relaxation for the diligent and consistent efforts and resources they dedicate towards caring for their loved ones.

Disability tax credit

It is an overall umbrella scheme regulated by the Canadian government, providing financial assistance to people who are taking care of any adult disabled family member with prolonged and severe impairments. The government helps these caregivers manage the extra costs needed to take care of their long term health needs.

Compassionate care benefits

It is a segment of Employment Insurance benefits paid to people who have taken temporary leave from work to offer care and support to their family member who is severely sick and has a significant risk of fatality within 26 weeks or 6 months. Therefore, during this time period, employees get compassionate care benefits. With this plan, the beneficiary (family caregiver) can receive financial support during their leave, ensuring they offer emotional and physical support to the family member without worrying about financial problems. These federal programs and benefits are essential for identifying the crucial services of the caregivers and providing them with necessary financial assistance as they navigate the responsibilities of caregiving.

Provincial programs and benefits

There are some specific provincial benefits and programs that can help caregivers. As their eligibility criteria and benefits can vary from province to province, it's essential to keep tabs on the respective province government rules for updated and accurate information.

Respite care programs

Many Canadian provinces offer respite care programs to family caregivers who are caring for elderly parents. This gives short term relief from their regular caregiving responsibilities. For example, the Ontario Caregiver Respite Program offers personal assistance (like bathing, dressing, helping seniors with medications, and basic mobility). They also help with household chores such as cleaning, laundry, and meal preparation. Apart from these, professional caregivers also take part in advanced roles like nursing and physiotherapy.

Local Home Care Services for Older Adults

Seniors can receive care from professional caregivers in the comfort of their home. But in these cases, family caregivers hire a full-time professional, leaving them with the whole responsibility. From assisting seniors with personal care and medication reminders to preparing meals, housekeeping, and offering companionship, they do it all. These are ideal for family members who are working professionals, unable to give full attention to the senior. In Quebec’s Aidants Naturels program, caregivers not only get support in activities but also gain information about how to take care of elders without getting exhausted. Manitoba’s Home Care Program is another such program offering assistance to caregivers in managing their regular responsibilities.

Assisted Living Communities with Personalized Care

These communities offer a balance of independence and 24/7 support, offering individualized care to seniors. Besides, professional caregivers help them to perform daily activities, take care of housekeeping, medications, doctor visits, and meal preparation. They act as a constant support for elderly members in social, cultural, and fitness programs.

Ontario family medical leave

Employees in Ontario who are the sole caregiver in the family responsible for supporting a family member with a severe medical condition can take 28 weeks of unpaid leave in a 52-week period, provided they will not lose their job. Employees who have been employed for at least 2 consecutive weeks in the company can get this benefit.

Caregiver checklist

The following are detailed checklists that family caregivers need to follow on a regular basis.

• Always observe your elderly loved ones for potential health problems such as fatigue, falls, and mood changes.
• Schedule medical appointments and accompany them to appointments.
• Check blood sugar and blood pressure regularly.
• Encourage and assist them in practicing exercises and activities
• Go with them to social activities or senior programs.
• Take additional measures like installing high railing beds (identical to hospital beds) or wheelchairs as per your loved one’s condition.
• Not all seniors are well-integrated with today’s scammers in society. Installing a programmable call blocker in the landline, or programming a smartphone to reject scam calls automatically, will help them avoid getting tricked by fraudsters.

Caring for elderly parents is a tedious and unconditional responsibility that children do on a regular basis without getting anything in return. From helping elders with daily activities to household chores and managing finances, caregivers do everything. But with time, while managing multiple duties single handedly, they become exhausted and burned out. But to overcome these problems, there are some self care tips that you can follow. Apart from this, seeking help from professional caregiver services also works efficiently. However, the Canadian government offers several financial benefits and assistance for elderly care at home.

Disclaimer:

The information provided in this guide is for educational and general informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional medical, financial, or legal advice. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information regarding federal and provincial government benefits, eligibility criteria, and caregiving programs, these policies are subject to change. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider, licensed financial advisor, or legal professional for advice and guidance tailored to your specific family situation and location.

Sources:

1. https://www.comfortkeepers.com/offices/texas/san-antonio/resources/resources/10-everyday-tasks-home-caregivers-can-help-seniors-with/

2. https://www.caringinfo.org/planning/caregiving/caregiver-duties-and-activities/

3. https://www.nationalchurchresidences.org/resources/daily-care-checklist-for-family-caregivers/

4. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/caregiving/being-a-caregiver

5. https://herohomecare.ca/blog/how-to-care-for-aging-parents-who-live-far-away/

6. https://www.familycaregiversbc.ca/caregiver-learning-center/read-resources/preventing-caregiver-burnout-4

7.https://www.canadalife.com/blog/the-sandwich-generation-managing-stress-and-finances/caregiving-benefits-and-programs-for-canadians.html