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Coordinated Community Response Column

With more awareness of elder abuse, there is not only more emphasis on recognizing the signs of abuse, but also research on how it can be prevented. There are identifiable risk factors that put older adults in a more vulnerable position to be abused, and one of those factors is isolation.

While defined as being placed alone, if one were to look up “isolation” in the thesaurus, words like disconnection, separation, and detachment would be found. Isolation does not just occur to individuals who are alone but is very common for couples in the situation where one is a caregiver and the other is the care receiver. Feelings of isolation happen without either realizing.

The caregiver has a number of care-related tasks to perform, plus the many household tasks they have done, in addition to many of the ones the care receiver had been doing. To accomplish all of this, the caregiver drops some of their social activities, and as the responsibilities increase, more social interaction is left behind. When the care receiver is less able to be left alone for any length of time, the caregiver finds him or herself only leaving to do a household task away from the home.

The care receiver will often withdraw from previous social interactions due to the inability to perform as he or she once could, embarrassed by their illness, or not wanting to be a further burden to their caregiver or anyone else. When no new activities replace the old, the majority of his or her time is spent sitting, doing nothing, and staring at the television. As the individual becomes less able, his or her illness progresses, and even interacting with the caregiver becomes difficult because the caregiver has no time to do so.

While the couple wanted the care receiver to remain at home so they could be together, both have found themselves socially, mentally, and emotionally isolated. Both are exhausted – one with so much to do and the other from little to do or boredom. This is not a good situation for either. The caregiver is neglecting his or her own health and welfare, and the care receiver is deteriorating at a rapid pace. The costs of isolation are escalating.

Couples need to address isolation before it is happening, and one solution that will be helpful to both individuals in the relationship is adult day care. For a program such as this, the care receiver goes to adult day care for a period of time each week where other care receivers and staff interact with him or her. A mixture of activities stimulates the mental and physical body, and a healthy meal and assistance with personal care can be provided. The care receiver will begin to feel useful, productive and cared about. For the caregiver, they now have that many less hours of providing care, freeing up time to make those social connections that they have missed. They can do some of things that are important to them, and the social stimulation will address the isolation. Another benefit is that both the caregiver and care receiver will have other activities that they can share with each other, allowing them to use some of their time together to enjoy each other’s company. WIN, WIN.

Currently, there is an adult day care program in Northern Door called Nor Door Adult Day Services with operating hours Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For more information call 920.593.3576.

This article is brought to you in part by the Door County Coordinated Community Response (CCR) to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Teams and the Door County Elder and Adult-at-Risk Interdisciplinary Team.