Why Do Families Choose Home Health Care for Their Loved Ones?

Spoil your loved ones with in-home care

When it comes down to whom you should trust with your loved ones, you should consider in-home care. Staying at home with a home care professional offers the best possible outcome in a difficult medical situation. There are many reasons you might be seeking out help in your home right now, but no matter what the reason, it is a win-win solution.

Your loved one wins by staying at home. Visitors can come and go; there are familiar sights to see and the one needing special attention can feel more independent. Small tasks a healthy person takes for granted, such as eating what you want when you want it, getting up and walking around or watching a movie in private are all major benefits of home care.

Following are some of the specific situations that can benefit from care in the home:

• Recent release from hospital
• Recovering from surgery
• Rehab for broken bones
• Problems affecting balance
• Multiple episodes of falling
• Increasing dementia or Alzheimer’s
• Newly diagnosed diseases
  

As your parents get older in age, they face new and different dangers in the house that were never suspect in the past. For instance, they can suddenly trip on a throw rug that has always been in the same spot. They can slip and fall when getting out of the shower or lose their balance when getting dressed. If dementia is setting in, they might leave the stove on or forget where they put valuables. Home care workers can help in all these instances.

Bottom line? Whether it’s temporary or permanent, a home care professional can help with any ailment that keeps your parent from being able to function normally and follow a regular daily routine.

Matching Home Care Assistance to the Patient

When you need home health assistance, certain criteria are necessary. The priority will be finding someone you can trust with your loved one. Depending on the age of your parent or loved one, this can vary wildly. For instance, if you are looking for a professional to take care of an aging mother who can’t get around anymore, you want someone strong enough to be able to help her, since making sure she doesn’t fall will be an important duty. But if the health care professional is going to care for a child, then someone experienced with making kids laugh would fit the bill.

To find the perfect home caregiver, start with a list that includes the medical background, capabilities and personality type that would be appropriate for your loved one. Keep an open mind; the professional who best fills the need might not be the one you expected. Make it clear if this is a temporary or long term position and how many hours and days you think would be best.

This is one of the surprising advantages of having private caregivers in your home. If your parent, child or loved one is in a hospital setting or institution, they do not have a choice of who will care for them. They have to take the luck of the draw, even if it comes to people who are not well-suited to them. By staying at home, the patient can make personal lifestyle choices that are not allowed in an institutional setting.

Another option patients have by being at home is spending quality time talking to their  caregiver and getting to know one another on a personal basis. This creates a friendly and trusting relationship that would be difficult to get anywhere other than a home setting.

How Health Care Professionals Stand in the Gap

Everyone is busy with careers, especially when parents begin to need you. That’s the way the life cycle spins. In the olden days, maybe a child would have stayed home to be with aging parents, but that isn’t possible in today’s world. So what do you do?

The best you can do in this situation is hire good home care. It is probably a better solution than when children care for their parents by themselves. When hiring an agency, you get a chance to interview them, check out their education, background, experience and job history. You get to pick and choose to find the best caregivers for the job. Once you find capable caregivers with a personality your parents would love, your job is easier.

After finding the right agency, you can make an introduction to your parents as someone who is helping you take care of them. You can assess their current status to determine how much care is required. From that time, the only responsibility you have remaining is that of an overseer and coordinator.

Be in close contact with the agency and make adjustments as needed. The important thing is to write down your expectations and be very clear about what you need. An open line of communication is vital to ensure the very best care for your loved one.

Everyone wins in this situation! Your parents get someone who is best suited to take care of them and that leaves you free to enjoy your visits with them, without the worries.

Family Visitations with Health Care in the Home

One of the best perks you get when hiring home care is that you, your family, your friends and loved ones can visit at any reasonable time and hang out with the person. This is so much more comfortable than pulling up a chair and sitting around the patient’s bed in an institution such as a nursing home or a rehab center. With a little bit of sensitivity, children, grandchildren, friends and family can all congregate in the home to liven up the atmosphere. This is relaxing and healing to someone who is recovering from a medical procedure and it is comforting to grandparents.

Watching movies or TV together is another option for home visits. The patient and the visitors don’t need to worry about bothering the other person in the room when they decide to watch a film or turn on their favorite music. A home setting is all about the preferences of the loved one.

Since there is a kitchen in most private homes, the caregiver can prepare food, serve nutritious snacks and offer drinks to the patient whenever the patient wants to have them. There is no need to wait for the kitchen staff to serve food at a particular time. The person can eat the food that is customary, or they can adapt to a special diet.

If you’re wondering whether in-home care is the best fit for your loved one, call us at 602.375.8880 to speak with a nurse at Celestial Care.