Acting as a caregiver for an aging or ill loved one can be a challenge if you live too far away to provide ongoing support in person. Here’s what you can do to manage caregiving at a distance.

Understand Your Role

Research your loved one’s condition and talk with your loved one’s doctor to determine the level of care needed in the immediate future. Discuss these needs with your loved one, the primary caregiver and other family members.

As a long-distance caregiver, you may decide to take charge of duties like handling paperwork, scheduling appointments and arranging services or managing bills and records.

Iron out the details of who will do what so that you don’t wind up burdened under responsibilities you can’t handle.

Hire an In-Home Caregiver

If your loved one can’t manage on his or her own, you may choose to hire an in-home caregiver to take on duties like meal preparation, daily aid and maintaining the proper schedule for medications.

Caring Home Care can make the process of finding the right caregiver easy. We screen all of our caregivers and ensure they have the proper training and licenses to tend to your loved one’s needs, including:

• Bathing/toileting
• Fall prevention
• Meal preparation
• Prescription reminders
• Transportation
• And so much more

Our team of caregivers can help as little or as much as needed. We offer highly trained companions, Certified Nursing Assistants, Registered Home Health Aides and live-in caregivers to ensure your loved one is expertly cared for when you can’t be there.

Get Important Papers in Order

Gather copies of all your loved one’s important papers, including documents like his or her will, power of attorney and health care proxy. Store these in a safe place where you can retrieve them easily if need be.

Have yourself added as a joint owner or representative payee for financial accounts and transactions. Taking these precautions ensures you’ll be legally able to make decisions in the event your loved one becomes unable to do so.

Plan Visits in Advance

When you have a chance to see your loved one, get in touch with him or her prior to your visit to find out if there’s anything you can do to help out while you’re there. This may include grocery shopping, household chores or providing transportation to an appointment. Be sure to schedule some quiet personal time to talk and enjoy a favorite activity together, too.

Don’t beat yourself up over what you can’t do for your loved one. Focus on the ways you can help, and continue to take care of yourself so that you can make the most of the time you have to see your loved one in person.