Ways to Help the Elderly

I've worked with the elderly for about ten years. Ever since I was a young child, I always had so much compassion and respect for older people and I wanted to help them any way that I could. When I was eleven years old, I started volunteering at a nursing home. I enjoyed volunteering and then later became a medical assistant and worked in nursing homes.

Working with the elderly has taught me a lot about compassion for other people. I've also gained some wisdom and good advice from some of the elderly patients. Here are a few ways that you can help the elderly.

Volunteer at a nursing home or retirement community. You may only have to give a few hours of your time per week or month to volunteer at a nursing home. There are many lonely patients who would I'm sure would be happy to get a visitor. You could ask your local nursing home facility if there are any volunteer opportunities available. Besides visiting the patients, you could also help them with fun activities or help to transport them from their room to their dining area or activity center. It is a very rewarding experience.

If you have an elderly neighbor or relative who think might be lonely, it would be a nice idea for you to go and visit with them. Maybe your elderly neighbor lives alone and would like some company. Checking in on the elderly to see how they are might just brighten up their day. If you can't visit an elderly relative in person, you could always call them on the phone to chat.

Ask an elderly neighbor or relative if they need help with any chores or if they might need a ride to the doctor. Sometimes older people do not like asking others to take them places or do chores for them. It becomes quite hard for an elderly person who was once independent to have to rely on other people. Tell them that you are available to help out when you can. They may have been needing the help but didn't want to ask.

If you know an elderly person who has trouble with daily activities, such as cooking, maybe you could make a little extra food one night and bring it over to them. You could also ask them if they need help with food shopping and maybe you could help them to find meals that are easy to prepare.

Volunteer for Meals on Wheels if it is in your area. You can help to deliver meals to elderly people in your area. You could also help out in the kitchen facility or do clerical duties for them. You can find out about Meals on Wheels by looking it up in a search engine online.

If you have a pet, maybe you could bring the pet over to visit an elderly person you know. You might also be able to bring your pet to a nursing home to visit the patients. You would have to call the nursing home first and ask what their policy is on bringing in an animal to the home. I wrote an article on Associated Content about pets and the elderly. Petting an animal can sure cheer up some elderly people.

One thing I like doing with my elderly relatives is listening to them reminisce about the way life used to be. Ask them questions about how their life was growing up. Put on some old songs that they liked. Look through old photo albums with them and show your interest in the photographs as well as the stories behind them. I know my elderly relatives love to reminsce by singing old songs, looking through photo albums and telling stories. You can really make someone's day just by listening to them and being interested in their life stories.

If an elderly person you know really likes watching movies, maybe you could help them to get a subscription to Netflix so that they can have movies delivered to their door. If they do not have internet access, you could call them on the phone and ask them what movies they would be interested in watching and then you can order those movies for them. This will help by providing entertainment and a little something to look forward to in the mail.

Send them greeting cards with nice little notes inside. You could send an elderly relative a note in a nice greeting card telling them that you are thinking of them and were wondering how they were doing. You could thank them for things they may have done for you in the past or you could just write something simple to let them know that they are being thought of. What a nice surprise it would be for a lonely elderly relative to get a nice greeting card in the mail because someone was thinking of them.

If the elderly person you would like to help is capable of going out, take them out to dinner at their favorite restaurant once a month. Sometimes older people have a hard time finding people to go out with and by offering to get them out of the house, you are helping them to socialize and do things that they enjoy. You could also take them to the zoo, a museum, a park, a day trip to the shore or a casino. Help them by getting them out of the house and back into doing things that they enjoy again. Even if it is only once a month, it will give them something to look forward to.