Caring for Aging Parents

Canadians aged 85 and over represent the fastest-growing segment of the senior population. Start thinking about how you’ll care for your loved ones in this age group.

By Gail Vaz-Oxlade | for www.MoneySense.ca
Have you thought about what you’ll do when the time comes for your mom and dad to need extra help? It’s not something most of us think about. Used to parents who have been vital, who have been the ones doing the guarding, many of us are ill-prepared for the years when our parents may need extra care.

Canadians aged 85 and over represent the fastest-growing segment of the senior population. Eventually many of us are going to have to come to terms with parents who have fallen prey to the ravages of age. Our first instinct may be to bring them into our own homes. That’s the way it was when I was a girl growing up in Jamaica. My great-grandparents lived with my grandparents. Home care worked well because there were always bodies available to help. Here in Canada, where my grand aunt lived with my aunt and uncle, they eventually ran into the problem of having a parent who needed constant supervision when they both worked outside the home.

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