Deciding On Home Care

Jun 10

11:17

2011

Andrew Stratton

Home care is a viable option for older adults who need help to stay in their own homes but whose health has not deteriorated to the point where round the clock medical supervision is necessary. Home care comes in a wide spectrum of services to meet the need of the individual. Services can include having someone come in to prepare and cook meals and do light housekeeping including laundry and making beds to having a certified nursing assistant assist with personal care hygiene including dressing, bathing and toilet.

If you have an elderly parent who concerns you but your not sure if they need out of home placement or home help there are a few guidelines that can help direct you to the proper choice.First you should discuss the situation with your parent. Nobody likes the idea that the person that once took care of them and had all answers to life’s problems is now dependent on their child for help. The reversal of roles can led adult children to pretend there is no problem to face and the parent can pick up on that cue and keep problems hidden.

It is important to overcome these natural fears and hesitations and have an honest conversation with your parent. Are your parent’s mental facilities still sharp? The mind can stay alert and sharp even as the body ages and betrays it. Your parent may still be able to manage their own care mentally but need help with physical task to compensate for their failing health.

What does your parent see as an area they need help with? Shopping for groceries, preparing meals and housekeeping services can be a great help to anyone and are minimally invasive to the receipt’s life. Do they need help dressing, showering and keeping hygienically clean? These are concerns that should be addressed and not minimized.

Talk to your parent about what type of home care they want and don’t want. Some people simply don’t want the loss of privacy and autonomy that home care involves but recognize they need some help that may not come from family or friends. This can be especially hard of you live in another city or state and your parent is reliant on you for more than you can provide for them due to the distance. If your parent is recovering from a medical event the care they need to be in their home may be short term.

They may need a CNA in addition to other housekeeping services initially but those services can always be scaled back as the need for them decreases. By the same token you may need to increase the services your parent receives as their health declines over the course of time.Keeping an open line of communication with your parent so you can meet their needs, and be better prepared for the time when home care simply is not enough and you can make an honest assessment of the next step in their long term home care.

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