4 Tips to Support the Recovery of a Loved One After Illness or Injury ~

Recovering from an illness or injury can be a long, tedious, and sometimes painful process. Healing and recovering is not a linear process; there will be good days and bad days. You may feel a little helpless and like there isn’t much you can do to assist them through this difficult time, but you do not have to be a medical professional to offer support to someone who has suffered illness or injury. Loved ones will need your care, attention, and love to guide them and maybe even a personal injury lawyer to ensure you are taken care of if need be. Here are four tips to help you keep them on the road to recovery and give them the support they need.

1) Keep Them Occupied

Often after illness or injury, people are not able or find it difficult to physically move, depending on what it was they suffered. This can be particularly frustrating as they recover as they will want to do all the activities and daily tasks that used to be easy. This can lead them to feel stuck, trapped, and disheartened. Keeping them occupied with things that stimulate the brain rather than the body is key to helping them keep a positive mindset. Reading, painting, drawing, listening to music, watching a film, knitting; there are endless activities to keep them occupied and satisfied.

The only thing you need to think about is giving positive feelings to your loved ones. You can prepare some useful gifts for them. They can be not only practical but also will lighten their mood. For example, If your family member is dealing with mobility issues, walkers can be a great gift to help maintain an active lifestyle. Or if someone you love has COPD you can think about one of these gift ideas for COPD patients enabling them to breathe easier. Therefore, whatever you give them, just try to combine practical applicability and usefulness.

2) Support Don’t Serve

It is natural to want to help someone in every single way you can when they are recovering from illness or injury, especially when it is a loved one. You don’t want them to struggle or have a hard time. Doing everything for them and tending to all their needs will not help them recover and build back their strength; it will make them dependent on you. The goal of recovery is to return to normal life as much as possible and dependency does not encourage this. Assist and support them with everyday tasks, but don’t do everything for them.

3) Professional Assistance

Caring for someone after illness or injury is a huge task, and one that can be challenging both physically and emotionally, especially when this loved one is an elderly parent. Seeing your parent age and being unable to do the things they love is heart-wrenching, and you need to make sure you look after your own health too. Remember that there is nothing wrong with seeking professional guidance or help. Respite care doesn’t always have to be permanent and it can be a way to relieve some of the pressure. Centers like Monarch Communities provide short-term respite care to assist recovery from illness, injury and surgery, allowing you to have a well-deserved break from caregiving duties.

In addition to solutions like short-term care mentioned above, if you were wrongfully injured, you will need to hire a lawyer, like the Pittsburgh Injury Lawyers, to ensure you get all of the compensation and assistance that you are entitled too.

Being cooped up inside all day only seeing the same walls and the same faces is tedious and unappealing for everyone. You don’t want to push it, but meeting up with friends, taking a trip to the park, or even just spending time in the garden can really help with recovery. It gives them a positive boost, gets some fresh air into their lungs, and provides a change of scenery.

You want your loved one to get better as quickly as possible, and these four tips will help you support them on that journey and have them back to their usual selves in no time.