Keeping Your Senior Safe Behind the Wheel
If your senior is still driving, keeping her as safe as possible while she does so is likely your biggest priority. Keeping the focus on safety can help to prevent frustration for both of you.
Vehicle Maintenance Is a Priority
If your elderly family member’s car is not in good condition, that is going to automatically create more problems for her. Make sure that it’s mechanically sound and that the required maintenance is handled when it should be. Don’t forget things like windshield wipers and lights, too. All of that is part of making sure her vehicle is as safe as possible.
Start Putting in Some Preparation
In the past, your elderly family member might have just hopped in the car and taken off to wherever she needed to go. Now, though, it can behoove her to spend a little bit of time preparing for her trips a little more thoroughly. Mapping out her route, determining if there is likely to be more traffic than she’d rather encounter, and avoiding dangerous routes can all give her a leg up on being safer on the road.
Rethink Night Driving
Nighttime driving is possibly one of the most dangerous types of driving for older adults. She may feel comfortable driving during the day, but driving at night can be an entirely different story. This may be one of the times when your elderly family member is open to the idea of allowing someone else, like homecare providers, to drive for her.
Talk to Her Doctor about Medications
Understanding how medications and their side effects change your senior’s ability to drive is crucial. Talk to her doctor about how your senior’s medications have changed and how the side effects might be different for her now. There might be some changes in order, particularly if she wants to continue to drive.
Get Regular Vision and Hearing Tests
It’s vital that your senior understands how her vision and her hearing are changing and how those changes affect her ability to continue to drive. Regular tests of both senses can keep her on target and can help her to identify problems. If her vision or her hearing become dramatically worse, that may be a sign for her to stop driving.
Your senior isn’t likely to enjoy hearing that she’s not able to drive any longer, but that might not be a necessary step yet. Focus on her safety, and then you can make the decision about continuing to drive as necessary.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Homecare Services in Dublin GA please contact the caring staff at Angels of Mercy Private Homecare Services, Inc. today at 478-745-5111.
Angels of Mercy Private Homecare has been providing in-home care services since 2002 throughout the Macon and Middle Georgia Area.
Angels of Mercy Private Homecare Services provides in-home care that improves the lives of the clients. Our services help them maintain the highest possible level of independent living. We provide In-home private duty care and care management services for seniors throughout the Middle Georgia area.
Our CNA (certified nursing aides), caregiver, and companion services allow our clients to age in the place where they feel most comfortable and secure - at home. Combine our Home Care Services, with our Geriatric Care Management component, and we provide the most comprehensive assistance for the Middle Georgia areas seniors.
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