One of the most difficult questions a family will have to face is whether to place a senior member into an assisted living facility or let him or her stay at home with the help of an in-home care service.
The answer depends on a number of circumstances. However, regardless of how well-run an assisted living facility is, it will never replace the familiarity of a beloved home. If a senior is having difficulty in handling the day-to-day tasks of normal living
– grooming, shopping, cleaning, etc. – it might be time to consider in-home care.
A professional in-home care aide can provide a wide range of services to ensure the care and safety of a senior person while allowing him or her to enjoy the comforts of home.
The health care provider can tend to wounds, give needed injections, follow any care-related order of the patient’s physician, and monitor the basic health of the patient.
Whether the in-home health care provider sees the patient every day or once or twice a week, he or she is the liaison between the physician and the elderly patient, coordinating critical communication between the two parties.
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Trained In-Home Care Aide?
Home is Familiar. For the elderly, home represents the familiar. He or she may have lived in the house for decades. This is the place where the senior feels safe and secure. They know the surroundings. This helps keep the senior mentally positive. Home care is personal, geared toward the individual’s preferences in ways that cannot be duplicated in a group environment. And it is professional, focused on keeping him or her as healthy as possible.
Seniors Receive Help With Personal Care
Many seniors require help with bathing and getting dressed. It can be depressing not to be clean and well-groomed. Sometimes, these fundamentals are neglected by the simple fear of falling. An in-home care aide can boost a senior’s self-confidence by keeping them looking their best.
Mobility Issues
As we get older, mobility can become a serious issue as the threat of falls and injuries continues to loom like a dark cloud. This is when many seniors play it
“safe” and move as little as possible. Hour or days can be spent on a recliner or a sofa. However, not exercising or moving only exacerbates mobility issues.
An in-home care aide can help with gentle exercise or accompany the senior on short walks. This provides tremendous physical and mental benefits to the senior. It also will improve the quality of his or her life.
Seniors Receive Help with Household Chores
Seniors frequently need help with household chores, such as vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom and kitchen, or preparing meals. An in-home care aide can help without interfering with the senior’s routine.
Help With Medication
It is easy for seniors to confuse medication or forget to take them altogether. That will certainly put their health at risk. An in-home care aide can help keep track of medications or simply help open the pill vial, if necessary. This ensures that the patient takes the correct medication at the correct time.
Help With Preparing Meals
Meal preparation can take a certain amount of physical staminal. In addition, seniors living on their own frequently can’t be bothered preparing meals and will settle for prepared frozen meals that lack nutrients.
The in-home care aide can not only purchase fresh, nutritious food, but can prepare tasty, enjoyable meals to keep the senior cognitively and physically healthy.
In-Home Care Aides Provide Companionship
It is easy for an elderly person to become isolated. That is especially true if he or she does not have a car to take them to events in the community. Perhaps they have lost a spouse and the children live too far away for regular visitations. This can lead to depression and mental deterioration.
A companion can simply chat or watch television with the senior. Or they can play cards or take part in some out-of-the-home activity, such as going to a movie or visiting a museum. This helps the senior remain active and involved in the community.
Elderly people with an in-home care aide have an automatic friend. This is a priceless gift. The aide is the person with whom he or she can share thoughts, feelings, and remembrances. For the family, the in-home care aide represents peace of mind and assurance that their loved one is well taken care of in his or her own home.
Give us a call today at (702) 941-7707.