Caregivers provide an immense relief to families supporting an elderly loved one. Daily assistance or even weekly assistance with meal preparation, grooming, and transportation helps a senior struggling with routine tasks to live with a sense of security.
Given the importance of a caregiver in a senior’s life, it is important to choose the most appropriate elder care service provider to tend to the daily needs of a senior who’d benefit from extra attention. Caregiving is a very personal task.
Finding the Right Caregiver
The right caregiver will provide compassionate aid to a senior, without giving the senior the feeling that he or she is incapable. Good rapport is another sign of a good caregiver-care recipient relationship.
Easy conversation helps build camaraderie. Trust develops when the elderly individual can discuss important concerns and even chitchat about less serious ones, like hobbies, with a caregiver.
Overall, the senior should feel comfortable with the caregiver brought on board. The establishment of comfort develops over time. Families and care recipients benefit from allowing a period of adjustment when bringing a new caregiver into their home.
Finding the Right Home Care Agency
Find a compatible home care agency by interviewing a select few agency management teams as well as the caregivers. Ask questions about the agency’s experience with elderly individuals, how the agency trains its caregivers to react to specific situations (such as a fall, injury or emergency) or if caregivers are trained to provide care for specific conditions, like dementia or stroke.
Families should also evaluate a caregiver’s personality to seek out the best match between a skilled caregiver and care recipient. A good relationship between the caregiver and senior helps provide invaluable psychological benefits to the senior.
Medical vs. Non-Medical Care
Switching home care agencies shouldn’t be stressful if you follow a few simple rules
Reasons to switch to a new home care service provider may emerge. Perhaps a different level of care is required. Families may have initially hired a home care service to provide assistance with the basic activities of daily living, such as grocery shopping and meal preparation.
In instances where the elderly individual’s condition progresses due to the onset of a serious illness, like stroke or dementia, it becomes critical to choose a home care agency staffed with a team of caregivers who are not only experienced in providing skilled care but who are knowledgeable about the disease.
Certain home care agencies provide strictly non-medical care. Home care aides without medical training can assist seniors with eating and daily hygiene; non-medical caregivers also provide valuable companionship to the elderly. Other home care agencies retain a staff of caregivers skilled in medical care.
If a senior is recovering from a surgery, the individual is more likely to require the assistance of a caregiver with medical training. Changing wound bandages, administering medication and checking for vital signs are healthcare tasks that only a registered nurse (RN) or licensed practical nurse (LPN) can perform.
Transition to a New Home Care Provider – Things to Consider
1. Assess Current Needs
If the senior in your life suddenly requires a different level of care, it may be time to switch to a home health care agency that can provide the specific assistance to meet the senior’s current needs.
The first step in finding a new senior care service provider is to discuss, if possible, with your loved one his or her needs, what changes they feel would benefit them, and what elements of care may be lacking. Your aim is to ensure the senior is comfortable, secure, and receives optimum care with any new caregiver.
If you are unable to consult with your loved one about his or her needs, determine the caregiving requirements of the current situation.
Families that are able to identify the needs of their loved one are more likely to find the right senior care service provider to suit the needs of the present circumstances. Keep in mind the list of requirements when contacting various home care agencies.
2. Understand Agency Policies
Each home care agency has a set of policies unique to their company. Familiarize yourself with any set of contracts, policies or agreements in place with the current agency. Some senior care service providers will require advance notice or fees in the event of the termination of services. Abide by the company’s policies to end the contract and inform the provider that services are no longer necessary.
3. Ensure Continuous Coverage
The most critical step in switching between senior care service providers is to ensure your loved one has adequate coverage at all times, especially if around the clock care is necessary. Even if the care recipient benefits from intermittent care, you can avoid scrambling to find support by hiring a senior care provider before terminating the service provided by the current agency.
Give the senior in your life the dignity and independence of living in the comfort of home. The right senior care service provider will help make this ideal situation a welcomed reality. Assisting Hands Home Care in Schaumburg is a licensed and bonded home care agency that provides compassionate, non-medical care to local senior populations.
Assisting Hands Home Care in Schaumburg
Our team of skilled non-medical caregivers at Assisting Hands Home Care provide assistance with a range of routine tasks, from transportation, meal preparation and light housekeeping to personal care, such as bathing and dressing. Pleasant companionship is offered with the goal of developing personal relationships between the caregiver and care recipient.
When more advanced elder care is needed, Assisting Hands Home Care in Schaumburg is available to provide non-medical Alzheimer’s and dementia care. Caregivers experienced with dementia related conditions keep clients alert with memory games, puzzles and, if appropriate, exercise, such as leisurely walks.
Respite care is also offered through Assisting Hands Home Care. Families who provide primary caregiving services deserve a break from the demands of continual caregiving. The respite program at Assisting Hands Home Care is flexible, so families have the option to hire care for a few hours a day or just a day or two a week.
Get a Free Consultation
The Assisting Hands Home Care team of dedicated caregivers serve the elder populations in Schaumburg, IL with compassion, attention and skill. Give us a call at (847) 448-0844 for more information or to schedule your free, in-home consultation.
