Guide for Care
Providing care is not always a simple step-by-step process. Knowing how to proceed when there may not be a clear road to follow may be challenging. When creating a care plan, consider who will be the primary carer, what types of care are required, who makes up the support team and what the members of the support team can offer.
When creating a plan for care it is helpful to identify the tasks and activities that can no longer be performed independently by the person who has low vision.
When approaching a person with low vision to assess their needs consider the following:
- Acknowledge that they are the authority on their own experience
- Allow them to make their own decisions unless they request assistance
- Avoid being overprotective
- Remain positive in tone and manner
Opportunities for assistance
After an initial assessment, areas that require assistance could include access to financial or social services, low vision aids, support for cleaning, shopping, cooking or a replacement meal service such as Meals on Wheels.
If the person who is blind or has low vision is unable to identify what they need, the carer can work with the appropriate specialised members of the support team to help find pathways to meet these needs.
There may also be other issues, apart from low vision, that need to be considered for the person under care including physical and medical conditions or other diseases.
Once the individual needs of the person under care have been assessed it is a matter of identifying what types of care are available to meet these needs and where to go to access care.
Identifying the types of care required is a process that involves the person who has low vision, the primary carer and other professionals and service providers.