Senior Home Care - Is it right for
you?
Senior Home
Care is a relatively new service compared to older care services
such as nursing homes or even assisted
living. So what is senior home care and when is it appropriate?
When someone has trouble taking
care of certain activities of daily life such as bathing, dressing,
or just managing certain tasks for awhile during convalescent
recovery after an illness, they often faced with the choice of
getting some help or leaving their home to stay in a facility that
can offer that daily care.
The problem with the latter is that
it's often just not the right time and it can be very
expensive. Most seniors want to stay in their home as long as
they can. If it's a matter of recovering from surgery, the
cost to stay elsewhere because of minor inconveniences can be a
serious financial drain.
The idea of getting help can take
two paths. In many cases, adult children and grandchildren,
other family, neighbors, and friends can and do pitch in. The
problem is that it's often not enough. Working adult children
find it hard to run over to mom's in the morning to help her in and
out of the shower and wait till she dresses. Other family and
friends aren't consistently available.
Senior Home Care is a paid
alternative where an expert in handling these kinds of situations
comes to the home on a regular schedule to pick up where the
relatives can't. Senior Home Care specialists do a wide
variety of duties and though these may cross over some duties of
other services such as maid services, Senior Home Care specialists
are there to provide assistance wherever it is necessary.
Senior Home Care service
specialists provide assistance with daily tasks such as bathing and
dressing, can assist with cooking, cleaning, provide transportation,
go get prescriptions and groceries, or sometimes even just sit and
talk.
Sometimes seniors feel as though
their independence is threatened when help services are
required. Nobody likes to have to admit that they need help
with these kinds of basic functions and this can sometimes mean that
home care services are refused.
So how does one know when it's time
to bring someone in?
The first thing that must be
considered is when there are safety issues involved. If there
is danger of falling while getting in and out of the shower,
dizziness or eyesight have the potential to cause an accident, or if
there have been issues with forgetfulness or an inability to process
information, then concern over physical safety must take precedence
over feelings that independence is being threatened.
If these are not issues, then home
care services may indeed be implemented over a period of time,
starting first with duties that are most despised. It is not
that uncommon that a senior home care specialist may be called in to
provide some light housekeeping. If they also happen to be
there during normal shower time, so much the better.
In many cases where an individual
initially exhibits certain reactions to the idea of home care,
actually meeting the senior home care specialist can put these fears
to rest.
The interview stage is always a
requirement for Senior Home Care companies. During this time,
they do a "needs-analysis" profile and can usually
alleviate the concerns over bringing assistance home.
If you think that senior
home care is something that needs to be examined further,
consider having someone come out for a visit to talk about
services. These visits are generally free, and responsible
home care service companies understand that there may be
concerns. These are no-pressure and no-obligation meetings,
and just the human face can often mean a better degree of acceptance
of this new idea.
