Helping Seniors in the Garden
Home Care Services in Islip NY: Helping Seniors in the Garden
It’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy… well, unless you are a senior with mobility problems. These seniors would love to go out and work in their garden, but they have trouble kneeling and using garden tools due to conditions like arthritis and osteoporosis. As a caregiver, this can be very frustrating and disheartening for you, but don’t despair! There are many ways you can help your loved-one in the garden, and many of them are as simple as taking a trip to the hardware store.
Here are just a few ways to make gardening easier for your aging loved-one.
Get special gardening tools – If your loved-one has arthritis and the joints in their fingers are swollen, stiff, or painful, they might not be able to hold their trowels or shovels very well. Luckily, this problem can be solved by buying special gardening tools that are made with the arthritis sufferer in mind. These tools have longer handles or handles that are at an angle so that one doesn’t have to bend their wrists to use them. They can also have special grips to make them easier for seniors with arthritis to hold.
Get special gardening gloves – Have you ever heard of the Bionic Woman? Well, your aging mother can be that woman with special bionic gardening gloves! These gloves are specially made to help seniors with arthritis feel less pain and grip things more easily when their hands are aching. You can find them at nearly any hardware store, or online.
Create a raised garden bed – One of the biggest complaints that seniors have about gardening is having to sit in the dirt or crawl around on the ground while they work. Creating a raised garden bed, though, can erase this problem, and give your loved-one a place to sit more comfortably while they work. Raised garden beds are simple to make, and require only some wood, tools, and dirt or potting soil to put inside. You can find instructions online for how to make one yourself, or you can even buy a premade one from a hardware store.
Keep them company – Even with these other modifications, your senior might still need help moving things around or carrying bags of soil from one place to another. So, unless they prefer to garden in solitude, hang around and keep them company while they work. You can run and get them anything they need, and they can stay in the garden and work on their projects.
Gardening doesn’t have to be a chore for seniors with mobility problems. With a few modifications and some help from you, their caregiver, it can be a fun, relaxing pastime. Just make sure that your loved-one isn’t sitting in the hot sun for too long at one time, or without any sunscreen. Keep an eye on them, but make sure they know that gardening is their time, and they should enjoy it as much as they can.
If you or an aging loved one are considering home care services in Islip NY, please contact the caring staff at Family First Home Companions. Serving all of Long Island.
Call today: (631) 319-3961
Jennifer has specialized training in Alzheimer’s disease through the Long Island Alzheimer’s Association and the Long Island Alzheimer’s Foundation.She also volunteered her time with the Alzheimer's Disease Assistance Center of Long Island for 3 years by providing cognitive stimulation to an Alzheimer’s patient group.
Jennifer educates the community about elder care and speaks to caregiver support groups, senior centers, and at professional organizations.Topics include home safety, effective strategies for family caregiving, elder care planning, and awareness about elder abuse.
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