Elder Care Tips: Enjoying a Safe and Healthy Hanukkah with Your Loved Ones

Hanukkah is a beautiful and heartwarming time for you to spend with your aging loved ones as well as the rest of your family and your friends. Like any other time in your elder care journey, however, it is also a time when you must keep safety and health in mind. If your aging loved ones are coping with new or worsened physical, mobility, medical, or cognitive limitations or challenges this year, it is important that you take steps to modify your Hanukkah celebrations so that your seniors can still enjoy the holiday and feel like an active, involved, and relevant part of the fun while staying safe and healthy.

Use these tips to help you celebrate a safe, fun, and healthy Hanukkah with your aging loved ones:

• Use the right menorah. The lighting of the menorah is at the center of the holiday celebrations, but as with anything that involves flames, it can pose a fire hazard. Remember that while making menorahs as an arts and crafts project is a great way to stimulate your parents’ minds and a fun and accessible way for them to engage with your children and teach them about their culture and heritage, they are not suitable for actual lighting. Materials such as paper and cardboard are highly flammable and could create a dangerous situation. Make sure that any menorah you choose to light is made of nonflammable materials that will not burn or melt.
• Position the menorah carefully. After you have selected the appropriate menorah, make sure that you choose the right place for it to sit. You do not want the open flames near anything else that may be flammable, including curtains, decorations, paper, books, or real or artificial flowers. Put the menorah on a stable surface away from where it could be knocked over by a child, pet, or adult with cognitive or balance limitations, and ensure that it is secure.
• Watch the menorah. It is custom to allow the Hanukkah candles to burn for at least 30 minutes after lighting, so if you are going to follow this custom make sure that you plan to stay in the room with the candles for the entire time they are burning. Do not leave the candles unattended or in a room with only a child or a senior with cognitive limitations.
• Fry with care. Another central element of a traditional Hanukkah celebration is enjoying a variety of fried foods to honor the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days. If you are planning on deep frying your own foods, make sure that you use all of the safety considerations of this potentially dangerous cooking method, including keeping other people out of the kitchen, monitoring the temperature of the oil to prevent flare-ups, and standing back when putting food in the oil to make sure you do not get burned by splatters caused by wet or frozen foods.

Get in touch with the elder care agency in your area to find out more about hiring an elderly health care services provider to help your aging loved ones enjoy a safe, healthy, and meaningful Hanukkah season.

If you or an aging loved one are considering elder care services in Main Line, PA, contact the caring professionals at Reliant At Home Care today (610) 674-6860.