A senior's life may be punctuated by loss: loss of health, independence, mobility, routine, and more. The most acute loss is that of family and friends.
Often, memory loss and dementia can make it feel like the losses are fresh over and over, so it is important to practice compassion when your senior doesn't remember that their spouse or friend has passed. Allow them to process it anew, rather than being frustrated with them that they don't remember.
There are healthy ways to help seniors handle grief. Allow your senior to talk about their loss if they want to. They might feel comforted to know that you are grieving as well. If it seems appropriate, suggesting a loss support group can help them feel safer sharing with strangers. It may feel like you can push the pain away by immersing your loved ones in other activities. Unfortunately, this only delays the pain and sometimes forces it to surface in inappropriate or unhealthy ways. Allow them to express grief in their own way. Everyone expresses grief in different ways: tears, screaming, withdrawing, cleaning, caregiving, sleeping. Allow your loved one to grieve in his or her own way.
Staying involved in your senior loved one's daily life, even if only through phone conversations, will help you to understand who is important to your loved one and will help you know when to be there for them during a loss. There is no shortcut for processing a loss, but when we support our seniors through the experience, they are better able to navigate their personal grief and find solace on the other side.