Here are 10 tips for successful homecare to help families in need of elder care and in home senior services begin the process without strife.
Homecare involves bringing a private duty nurse, caregiver or personal care aide or attendant into the home to help with fall prevention, constant safety monitoring, medication management, assistance with activities of daily living, companionship, meal preparation, errands and incidental transportation.
The care should be patient centered, and should start with a quality plan of care, a roadmap for all care providers to follow.
Here are ten tips to take the stress out of starting homecare:
1. Express needs or concerns openly with the homecare agency, they should be responsive and empathetic to your concerns and fears.
2. Don’t think of homecare as punitive or a punishment, it’s a collaboration with the client’s goals, strengths, needs and values as the focus.
3. Stress to loved ones that homecare is meant to enhance clients’ independence and quality of life at home, not to take away their freedom.
4. If a loved one is resistant to homecare, remind them that homecare does not have to be a long term commitment. Encourage ‘trying it’. Often parents will try homecare if hey feel they are reducing strain on their children.
5. Set realistic expectations; a caregiver may be a good cook and able to plan and prepare nutritious meals, but she is not a gourmet chef. Staffing issues such as illness will arise; try to be understanding when a fill in homecare staff is needed.
6. Keep a schedule; the more regular the days and hours of care, the more likely the client will have consistent and quality help at home.
7. Feel that you can notify the homecare agency of issues or problems right away with polite and open communication, so the agency can work to solve the problem.
8. Expect polite behavior from the homecare agency and in home caregiver, and be polite to the homecare staff as well.
9. Be positive; focus on the fun activities, companionship, social connections and new experiences that homecare can bring into the client’s home, helping with isolation, stressors and depression in seniors or people facing injury or illness.
10. Take a breath, give change some time and remember, you are on a journey that will have ups and downs, great joys and some disappointments. Be part of the team that helps our loved one age at home with safety, companionship and quality care.
To download a pdf our our 10 Tips for Successful Homecare, click here.
If you or someone you love needs in home care in Los Angeles county or San Diego county, feel free to call 888-634-8004 for more information.