Roughly a third of Oak Brook’s 8,100 residents are 65 or older, and many have lived in the same Old Oak Brook, Ginger Creek, or Forest Gate home for decades, according to recent Census estimates. Assisting Hands Home Care built its companion care program, one part of the full range of home care services we provide in Oak Brook, around that kind of client: someone who doesn’t need medical care but shouldn’t be spending every day alone in the house, or someone adjusting to life after losing a spouse who could use regular company while they work through it.
Why Regular Company Matters for Health, Not Just Mood
Isolation carries measurable health risks, not just an unpleasant feeling. Older adults who are socially isolated have about a 50 percent higher risk of developing dementia, a 29 percent higher risk of heart disease, and a 32 percent higher risk of stroke than people who stay connected, according to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on social isolation in older adults. Loneliness is also tied to higher rates of depression and anxiety, and studies on heart failure patients have linked it to nearly four times the risk of death.
Caregivers can’t treat dementia, heart disease, or the other conditions linked to isolation. What they can do is address the isolation itself: regular conversation, a reason to get dressed and leave the house, and time spent on an activity the client actually enjoys.
What Does a Companion Do for the Elderly?
This kind of support is built around daily routine and staying connected to the world outside the house. For clients in Oak Brook, that usually includes:
- Conversation and shared activities. Cards, board games, puzzles, or just catching up over coffee.
- Meal preparation. Cooking meals the client actually wants to eat, respecting any dietary restrictions.
- Light housekeeping. Tidying, laundry, and keeping the home safe to move around in.
- Transportation and errands. Rides to appointments at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove or UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale, plus trips to Oakbrook Center, church, grocery stores, and family visits.
- Getting outside. A caregiver can walk a client on the paved paths at Central Park, through Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve, or around the grounds at Mayslake Peabody Estate, all an easy drive from most Oak Brook homes.
- Medication reminders. Prompting a client to take medication on schedule (caregivers remind; they don’t administer medication).
This is different from personal care, which covers hands-on help with bathing, dressing, or transferring, and from skilled home health care, which involves nursing or physical therapy.
What Are the Benefits of Companion Care for the Elderly?
The value goes beyond simply having someone in the house. For families in Oak Brook, the benefits that matter most tend to fall into a few categories.
- Genuine friendship. A good caregiver gets to know the client over weeks and months: which stories they like to retell, which grandchild just started college, how they take their coffee. That familiarity doesn’t happen in one visit.
- Support through transitions. For a client adjusting to life after losing a spouse or watching close friends move into assisted living, having someone who shows up on the same days each week and listens without rushing changes how the day feels, not just how it’s filled.
- A better quality of life. Care plans are built around what the client actually wants to do, whether that’s finishing a puzzle, tending a garden, or getting to church on Sunday, not just the tasks that need to get done. Seniors who stay active and engaged tend to hold up better, day to day, than those who spend most of the day alone.
- Independence at home. Regular help with errands, meals, and housekeeping means a client can keep living in their own Oak Brook home, on their own schedule, instead of moving somewhere less familiar sooner than necessary.
Why Oak Brook Families Choose Assisting Hands
Background-checked, bonded, and insured caregivers. Every caregiver passes an extensive background check before working with a client.
- Clinical ownership. The agency’s owners have physical therapy and rehab-facility backgrounds, so caregivers are trained to notice mobility changes and fall risks, not just keep someone company.
- Locally Strong. The Downers Grove team already serves Hinsdale, Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, and Willowbrook, Oak Brook’s immediate neighbors, so caregivers know the neighborhoods, the local hospitals, and the parks where a client might want to spend an afternoon.
- Flexible scheduling. Care can run a few hours a week for someone who mostly needs company and errands, or scale up to daily visits or live-in care.
