More than half of seniors resist asking for help, even from their adult children, fearing it signals a neediness that could land them in a nursing home, a new study shows. That fierce resistance is playing out in so many family squabbles — from the silent treatment to bitter turf wars between aging parents and their grown kids — that the home-care agency Home Instead Senior Care has just launched a series of online self-help videos, one of them focusing on communication. “This is a big problem for family caregivers,” says Bruce Mahony, owner of Home Instead’s Toronto office. “If seniors admit they need help, they think their independence is in question. They worry about losing control of their affairs.” Fifty-one per cent of 24,147 adult caregivers surveyed across Canada and the U.S. by Home Instead Senior Care from 2004 to 2009 say their aging relatives can be so reluctant to accept help, they fear for their safety. Some worry their elderly parents are forgetting to eat meals or take medications in a misguided bid to maintain their independence. Others are managing to hobble along with considerable help from elderly partners who are getting sick struggling to keep up appearances that all is well, elder-care experts say.

Please feel free to call the Elder and Disability Law Offices of Jerold E. Rothkoff if you are caring for an aging or disabled parent in order to access and gain eligibility for VA, Medicaid, or other needed benefits to help alleviate the stress and burden of providing home care. 

Source: Healthzone Canada (September 3, 2010)
Full story: http://www.healthzone.ca/health/yourhealth/agingwell/article/856361--seniors-resist-help-at-home