Now Accepting New Residents. Call us at (703)846-0395 We are doing our part to keep our community safe and healthy.

Blog

Get Your Loved One Involved Over the Holidays

by November 15, 2019

Celebrating the holidays in an assisted living community can be cozy, festive, and filled with heartfelt moments. It can be made even more meaningful to your elders when they spend those holiday moments with the people that matter most to them.

At Tysons Woods Assisted Living, we aim to provide our residents with quality personal senior care experiences that are enjoyable and worthwhile. If your loved one resides in an assisted living community, it’s even more important to embrace new traditions together. When celebrating with your elderly loved one over the holidays, here are a few details you may need to keep in mind:

Bringing Loved Ones Home for the Holidays

Your loved one’s condition and physical needs should help you determine whether you can bring them home to celebrate with the rest of the family during the holidays. Discussing how they feel about the situation will further help you decide what you both can do during this season.

Your loved one may have concerns about feeling too fatigued or they may express that they need additional personal care during your family quality time. You can help them feel at ease by letting them know how you are able to meet their needs. This is especially helpful and encouraging when they’re feeling insecure or afraid of feeling like a burden. Providing positive reminders when they need it most will quickly reassure them how much the family is looking forward to spending time with them over the holidays.

When Your Loved One has Dementia and Isn’t Aware of the Holidays

No matter whether it’s the holidays or not, your loved one will be happy to spend quality time with you and your family. Consider how well your loved one does outside of their assisted living community. If they do enjoy being out, then it’s probably a great idea to bring them home for the holidays.

If your loved one tends to get more agitated outside of assisted living, then consider doing other activities such as reminiscing over old photos, singing along to music, eating a meal together or admiring the festive decor. However, if your elder isn’t fond of excessive noise or numerous activities, then seeing you in the holiday spirit will be enough for them to experience it as well.

Celebrating the Holidays in an Assisted Living Community

Holiday festivities and decorations may come off as overstimulating or agitating, especially to elders who have dementia. If this is often the case, take a minimalistic approach to the decorations and encourage smaller group visits instead. Once your loved one gets a better feel of the space, you can remove or add more depending on how they react to it. For those without cognitive impairments, do your best to include them in the various activities, like decorating their room, letting them help you purchase gifts, wrapping gifts, and much more.

Choose Compassionate Personal Senior Care in Vienna, Virginia Today

At Tysons Woods Assisted Living, our team always encourages activity suggestions and holiday ideas from our residents and their families. We enjoy working together and getting creative to find the best ways to celebrate the holidays with all of our residents. Helping residents feel right at home is our mission so whether you’re loved one needs additional personal senior care support or you would like to learn more about our community, connect with us today!

 

We look forward to hearing from you. Get in touch with our personal senior caregivers at (703) 846-0395 to see if Tysons Woods Assisted Living is right for your loved one.