Thursday, September 9, 2010

Tips For Caring For an Elderly Parent

There are many different elder care options available today. One option that you may want to consider is elderly home care. It allows parents or a loved one to remain at home, in familiar surroundings, and still get the assistance that they need. Often, caregivers include family, friends, or caregiving professionals that provide a wide range of senior home care services. This can be an ideal situation if you are caring for elderly parents or overseeing their care, where their primary needs are non-medical care.

In this type of setting, care can range from someone stopping in periodically, to a live-in caregiver that provides 24 hour care. Some examples of non-medical elderly home care may include: preparing meals or help with feeding, assistance with bathing and grooming, light housekeeping, assisting with medication, grocery shopping, bill paying or running errands.

In our particular caregiving situation, family members have teamed up to provide much of the home care for my mother-in-law, who has advanced Alzheimer's disease. However, at times, we have enlisted the help of friends, our church family, and companies specializing in elderly home care services to provide for her needs. Even if your family is well equipped for caregiving, its important to be familiar with some of the senior home care services that are available today. Taking advantage of these services may give you the occasional day off or vacation that you need, without putting undo stress on your family or friends.

Even if you have other family members or friends that assist you in caring for a loved one, there are times when they are not available. At these times, being familiar with companies or caregivers that specialize in providing elderly home care can be important. Each local area normally has companies that offer a wide range of elderly assistance services. Normally, you can find these online by searching for the word "caregivers." However, here are some nationwide, senior care service providers, that you may want to consider.

Visiting Angels
Specializes in non-medical home care services for the elderly, allowing them to maintain as much independence as possible in familiar surroundings. They have over 300 offices across the country. Their website is: www.visitingangels.com.

Cargiver Needed
Search by state for caregivers, nurses, and sitters. They offer both non-medical and medical care for the elderly and for children. Both live in and live out caregiving options are available. Their website is: www.caregiverneeded.com.

Right at Home
They can provide home health care from as little as a few hours to 24-hours a day. Services include: caring companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, bathing assistance, respite for family caregivers, and much more. Their website is: www.rightathome.net.

These are just a few of the many resources that are available for today's caregivers. Over the years we have been blessed to have family members and close friends that have teamed up with us to care for a loved one with Alzheimer's. However, utilizing other caregiver resources has given us much needed breaks, while still providing excellent care.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Home care is great because the patient gets to stay in their own home, which preserves their sense of personal independence. Additionally, studies have also shown their are significant health and mood benefits found in those who remain in their homes. Caregiving can often be a daunting task, but there are many products out there which make it easier to take care of the elderly. Additionally, many of these items promote independence by reducing the need for assistance in some areas. Thank you for your post!

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