Understanding Home Care Assistance: What to Expect for Your Loved One
Understanding Home Care Assistance: What to Expect for Your Loved One
To the average healthy individual not suffering from the likes of Alzheimer’s, a terminal illness or any other end-of-life stage affliction, the concept of “home care” may equate to nothing more than having a beverage brought to them while putting their feet up. But as we grow older, our needs change and whether it’s a matter of needing an extra hand around the house or requiring home health care for medical issues, home care assistance can solve a myriad of concerns. Because there are a number of factors at play here, including quality of life and the specific benefits yielded by going the home care services route, Royal Home Companion is going to simplify the analysis process to ultimately show how a home care assistant can care for your loved one.
Today’s proficiently equipped home care assistance agencies offer a range of services to aid in making elderly care in the home ultra-efficient, including:
• Companion care services
• Bathing assistance
• Incontinence care
• Mobility assistance
• Dressing and grooming
• Transferring and positioning
• Oral hygiene
• Feeding/meal preparation etc.
If your loved one has a medical problem that makes your daily life more difficult but he or she isn’t ready to move into a retirement community, home health care is the way to go. These trained professionals can visit as often as you need to provide the kind of care required, with services ranging from in-home CNAs and physical therapy to occupational therapy, administration of medication and other medical care as approved by the patient’s doctor.
Home Care for Seniors…and Others: The Quality of Life Factor
A relatively recent study that analyzed the effect of home health care on the quality of life in gastrointestinal cancer patients revealed that there was a significant decrease in pain and an increase in performance from baseline to the final data collection period. During the home visits, the patients’ nursing care was guided by an evidence-based protocol developed by the research team conducting the study, with data regarding pain, performance, symptoms and quality of life collected by using previously developed and validated instruments.
But we’re here to tell you that stats alone do not make home care assistance so appealing – the difference high-quality and compassionate care exhibited by experts at agencies such as Royal Home Companion provides is overwhelming for the lives of these patients and their families. Some cancer patients, for example, require specialized health care assistance that may happen during or after cancer treatment. As such, home health care services can provide certain types of temporary or ongoing medical care at home, the goal being to make it possible to remain safe and comfortable in familiar surroundings…while still enjoying a solid quality of life.
Our advice is to talk with your health care provider to determine if home health care services are needed, and discuss any problems your loved one may be experiencing with daily activities.