What Can You Do as a Long Distance Caregiver?

Caregivers in Wellesley MA

Long-distance caregivers can handle quite a bit for their elderly loved ones and for the other people in their loved one’s life. Even if you’re the only one who is able to help your loved one, you can do more than you think from far away. The key is to focus not on what you can’t do, but what you can do.

Handle Information Gathering and Dissemination

One thing that you can do just as well from far away as you can from right there with your loved one is to research health conditions, treatment options, or other topics that need researching. You may also have some expertise in sharing information easily, which can be really helpful if other family members are far away, too.

Offer Support to the Primary Caregiver

If you’re not the primary family caregiver, you can offer emotional support to the primary caregiver. You both know the elderly loved one that you’re providing care for and it’s likely easier to talk about situations since you both know what’s going on. You could also be a respite care support for the primary caregiver, even if you’re only able to travel now and again. If you are the primary caregiver, you can still be quite effective even in a long-distance situation.

Help with Phone Calls and Paperwork

You can definitely help with phone calls, paperwork, and other types of red tape that your loved one and the primary caregiver might encounter. With email, fax, and cloud storage, you can have access to all sorts of documentation that your loved ones need help with. Those are also effective ways to keep others informed of what is going on with your loved one.

Create and Launch Emergency Plans

If you’re the member of the family who is especially good at making emergency contingency plans and implementing them, this is something else that you can do from afar. You might be in charge of determining who needs to be notified when there is a problem or you might be the one helping others in the family to make travel arrangements on short notice.

Try to focus on your strengths rather than fearing that you can’t do much to help from far away. You could also help the primary caregiver from afar by bringing in a non-medical caregiver to offer them respite from their care duties. A non-medical caregiver can offer companionship and assistance with the tasks of daily living, and give both you and the primary caregiver peace of mind in knowing that your senior loved one is safe and cared for, even from a great distance.