Carers

Are you worried about your older relative's skills?

Warning signs of declining skills and increased frailty can include:

• Changes in personality

• Forgetfulness

• Difficulty climbing stairs

• Decreased appetite or losing weight

• Bruises without trauma

• Personal hygiene is lacking

• Often illness

You can consult the health care center for advice, but you can also read about it at Heilsuvera or here at Ísland.is.

Finance

It is right to ask if your relative wants to receive help with the finances in good time. Also to discuss who he would like to have to take care of finance IF he/she loses the ability to do so.

If an individual cannot give due to illness a written power of attorney about their finances, they need to go through financial deprivation. Therefore it is important to dicuss these issues early.

• If help is requested, it is possible to prepare a power of attorney that gives the right to oversee daily finances and communications with various institutions, such as the Social Insurance Administration, Iceland Health (Sjúkratryggingar) and more. With such a power of attorney, the person is handling these matters with their electronic ID and everything is traceable. It is also possible to grant authorization on my pages on Island.is for various actions.

• It is desirable that other close relatives sign as witnesses or have knowledge of the power of attorney.

• On My pages (linkur) at island.is power of attorney can be granted „umboð“ for various actions.

• Learn more about the benefits offered to older people, for example, in terms of health care, dental care, and subsidies from the Icelandic Health Insurance.

Disputes can arise, most often about finances, and then it is good to have taken measures early on, such as power of attorney, agreement on sitting in an undivided estate, drawing up wills and more.

If your relative needs and wants help with their health, here are some tips:

• Get permission to talk to a health care provider or family doctor

• Go through proxies to pick up medicine and/or look up medicines in Heilsuvera (insert a link from the proxy page).

• Pharmacies offer drug dosing for individuals (7-28 days) and some also offer home delivery.

• Accompany a loved one to an interview and check-up with healthcare professionals. Individuals often receive a lot of information, and it is good to have someone with them who can write them down. Ask for the written results of the inspection and lab tests.

• Monitor medication administration if possible, e.g. with drug dosing or drug robotics. Ask for home care assistance if needed.

• Follow the conventions regarding disposable aids inside my pages at Iceland Health. Conventions are often temporary (eg diapers).

• In general, various aids can be subsidized from Iceland Health (support devices, safety buttons) and Sjonstodin if conditions are met.

• There may come a time when a person needs the help of home support and/or home care in order to live safely at home. Loved ones and relatives do not always agree on whether it is needed and when. It can be good to have a home support or home care worker visit you to get information about the support that is available and can be applied for.

• It is important to keep in mind not to take away from the individual what he can still do and rather to come in with assistance where it is needed. Sometimes it only takes a small change in the environment or bringing in aids for a person to be able to continue their work. You can get information about this from home support, home care or health care in your municipality.

More information about the main changes in the health of older people.

The website Heimsokn (only in Icelandic) offers a simple system that keeps track of family visits to friends or relatives who need special care.

Admission is free.

Talk to a loved one about their wishes in a timely manner. With this, it can be easier for the relatives to follow the will and wishes of their loved one if they cannot do it themselves due to e.g. illness.

A few things to consider:

• What is important to a loved one and what does he want to focus on?

• What is your loved one's greatest fear of getting older?

• Does the life story exist in an accessible place? By filling in his life story and wishes at the end of his life, your relative is contributing to ensuring that the care he may need will be provided according to his wishes.

• What are the loved one's values in life and preferences regarding treatment and limitations of treatment?

• How would they like to be remembered?

it is important for all relatives to seek support and advice.

Strain on family members increases the likelihood of their health problems.

Health care centers provide advice to the relatives of elderly people as some local authorities.

It's good to find a relative or friend who is willing to listen and offer support. In addition, many patient associations provide counseling services.

Senior year - aging advice provides personal advice to individuals and families with the interests of everyone in the family as a guide.

The Alzheimer's Association provides counseling to individuals with dementia and their families, free of charge. You can call the counseling phone number 520 1082 or send an email to radgjafi@alzheimer.is and make an appointment on site, by teleconference or by phone.

People's communication is different but is important to everyone. Social relations are important to everyone, but with increasing age and/or due to illness, they may decrease. It is therefore important to nurture social interaction and there are many things you can do, such as going for short walks, sitting and chatting over a cup of coffee or talking on the phone.

Communication can change over the years and changes can happen faster for one party than for the other. If such changes occur, it is good to keep in mind that it may take individuals a different amount of time to adapt to the new communication. Irritation and anger can follow. The way we handle changing relationships is different and individual. Remember that we are communicating with another human being. Sometimes a change in communication involves the need to set boundaries, and this can be difficult and complicated. You can seek help from e.g. social worker or psychologist to improve communication with your loved one.

Legal documents are passport, driver's license and identity card. A valid identity card is needed to obtain an electronic identity card, during elections, to collect medicine and more.

Attention is being drawn to the identity card, which is a new certified identity card. An identity card can be applied for at the District Commissioners.

It is worth applying for a identity card when passport and driver's license are about to expire and it is uncertain whether they will be renewed. In this way, we support self-evident human rights.

Many non-profit organizations run support groups for relatives. Here are several:

• Alzheimer‘s Association support groups

• Ljósið Relatives – of those diagnosed with cancer

• The Parkinson‘s Association – support groups

• Píeta samtökin, support groups

• Sorgarmiðstöð, support groups

Older people are more susceptible to various accidents. Accidents with older people often have more serious consequences than with younger people.

A few tips to increase safety:

• Move items that are used on a daily basis, e.g. cups, plates and bowls, in a place where they are easy to reach.

• By removing mats from the floor or decorative items on the floor, the risk of falls can be reduced.

• Get a lower shower base to reduce the risk of tipping over.

• Get a geriatric counselor/healthcare provider to assess the situation at home.

• Invest in a safety button. A wide selection of such is available from security companies.

• Various useful aids are available and it is worth checking out the useful links under Assistive devices.

• Örugg efri ár or Safe Senior Year is a booklet in Icelandic about where and how to prevent accidents in older people.