You need to think outside the box in cring for your elderly family. My mom was miserable and was making all of us miserable, too. She was lonely and refused help and acted like she had a death wish. I can't afford in home care for my mom right now (and she really doesn't need someone there every day). We signed my mom up for friendlyjingle.com daily calls and it has significantly decreased her feelings of loneliness. It's extremely affordable and it's made her days a lot happier. Little things help - bringing her dinner, sending her a card just to say, "Hi," asking other family to stop by more often. We just needed to pull together a little more for her and it's made all the difference.