Families may introduce a home care agency to an elderly loved one as their care needs progress. Senior home care is an invaluable source of support and should be incorporated into an aging person’s care plan. Home care agencies provide numerous care services to improve a senior’s quality of life.
What is home care?
Home care involves helping seniors with the activities of daily living. Professional caregivers who provide home care services give their aging care recipients an opportunity to live independently at home. When reliable care is provided at home, seniors avoid entering nursing facilities.
Does home care facilitate aging in place?
Services are provided in the comfort and familiarity of the senior’s home, giving them the benefit of aging in place. This is significant since the majority of older adults prefer to live at home for as long as possible and be close to friends, family, and their community.
What are the goals of home care agencies?
Apart from helping aging care recipients with the essential tasks of everyday living, home care can be useful for managing chronic illnesses, helping older patients recover from surgery or an injury and assist elderly individuals who live with a disability.
How long does home care last?
The length of home care services can be indefinite and ongoing, especially when seniors need day-to-day help with the activities of daily living. Respite care is also an option, where care is provided intermittently. Seniors who return from the hospital benefit from short-term post-surgical home care.
What do home care agencies do?
1. Provide help with the ADLs
Whether a senior opts for occasional respite care or continued care for the long-term, professional caregivers provide a range of compassionate care services. Responsibilities include helping the elderly perform intimate personal hygiene tasks, such as bathing, grooming, dressing as well as toileting.
Cooking is an important part of daily living, and caregivers prepare nutritious meals for their care recipients. These professionals also take care of grocery shopping, thereby ensuring the senior’s pantry is stocked with fresh food. Caregivers keep care recipients hydrated throughout the day with beverages.
2. Deliver mobility support
Living at home makes it necessary for seniors to move about safely. Caregivers from home care agencies assess the home environment for fall-risks and eliminate clutter in walkways. Seniors also receive mobility help to transfer them from a bed to a chair or from a wheelchair to a toilet.
Community involvement is a critical aspect of social health. Caregivers provide seniors with transportation to local destinations, such as the senior center, group exercise classes, and even the post office. When the elderly are scheduled for a doctor’s appointment, caregivers escort them.
3. Provide supervision
Continual supervision is a valued safety component of senior home care. Older adults have a high risk for falls, and alert caregivers deliver the help they need to avoid falls or call for emergency services in the event of an accident.
Dementia patients similarly require monitoring to prevent them from wandering and other mishaps, such as leaving the stove on after cooking. People with Alzheimer’s disease should never be left alone, and memory caregivers are instrumental to ensuring they remain adequately supervised.
4. Offer companionship
Just as participating in the community boosts well-being, companionship from caregivers helps seniors stay socially active and reduces loneliness. Companion caregivers initiate pleasant conversations with seniors, take them on outings, join them in recreational activities, and encourage the pursuit of hobbies.
5. Manage caregivers
While home care agencies deliver exceptional care, they also handle the practical aspects of home-based care. Reputable agencies require their caregivers to be licensed, bonded, and insured to give families and their loved ones maximum peace of mind. They also mandate caregivers to be trained in CPR and first aid.
Home care agencies manage the payroll and taxes of their caregivers. Families who opt to receive home care through a licensed home care agency are free to focus on their aging loved one’s overall health rather than spend time managing the caregiver’s schedule and salaries.
6. Offer flexible scheduling
Working with a home care agency is a major convenience. Caregivers from home care agencies are available to work various shifts and durations. Agencies offer 24-hour care, live-in care, respite care, post-hospitalization care, and overnight care to fulfill the scheduling needs of families.
7. Accept various forms of payment
Paying for home care agencies is hassle-free. Many seniors and their families opt to self-pay, while others rely on long-term care insurance. Health insurance can pay for services as can workers’ compensation. Veterans and their spouses rely on veterans’ benefits to pay for home care services.
A major advantage of choosing a home care agency, like Assisting Hands Home Care, is that doctors do not need to prescribe care. Care can be scheduled according to the senior’s needs, whether that is seven days a week, 24 hours a day, or a few hours once a week.
As a leading home care provider, Assisting Hands Home Care promotes the overall health and wellness of the seniors in our care. Services include all of the abovementioned as well as knowledgeable help with finding local resources to support aging in place.
Care plans are customized to meet the unique care requirements of the senior and are developed during an initial consultation. As care needs change over the years, our flexible care plans can be adjusted. Scheduling is equally flexible, and our caregivers can be dispatched on short notice.
Quality senior home care can be pivotal in enhancing your aging loved one’s social, emotional, and physical health. As a result of fulfilling their care needs and helping them live independently, older adults immediately experience satisfaction and a greater quality of life.
You can call Assisting Hands at (321) 455-5778 for top-rated in-home care services for seniors and adults with disabilities in Palm Bay, Barefoot Bay, Melbourne, Viera and the surrounding areas (See All Served Areas). Our caregivers are attentive, experienced, and ready to accommodate changing care needs.
