Senior home care is extremely important as 60% of U.S. adults have at least one chronic condition. The older you get, the higher the risk of common health issues like cancer, arthritis, and low bone density. While home care aides can become essential for supporting your mom’s desire to age at home, there are also several things people don’t understand about caregivers.
Caregivers Provide Light Housekeeping Services
Your dad can have a senior home care aide help him with household chores like vacuuming, dishes, laundry, and dusting. Caregivers cannot tackle all household cleaning projects, however. If your dad has ceiling fans in a vaulted ceiling, his caregiver cannot get the extension ladder and climb up to clean the fan blades.
Caregivers can clean the floors, but they’re not going to move furniture to sweep under things. They can wipe counters and sinks, but they’re not going to do a deep clean. If your dad’s home needs a deep cleaning, you should hire a cleaning company or take care of the deep cleaning yourself. The caregiver will maintain the cleanliness after that.
Caregivers Can Provide Temporary Services
When you arrange senior home care, you can have temporary services through respite care. This is helpful if you’ve been diagnosed with COVID or the flu and need to stay away for a week or two. Caregivers can temporarily help your dad out while you recover.
Respite care is also helpful if you want to go on a two-week cruise and your dad can’t or doesn’t want to join you. While you’re away, your dad still has the support he needs.
Caregivers Provide Companionship
Your dad may not need a lot of help around the home. What he is lacking is to have people visiting him. His family lives out of state, and his social circle isn’t big. You can arrange to have senior home care aides stop by specifically to provide companionship and nothing more.
Caregivers Cannot Perform Medical Duties
Your dad may have an infected toenail that was drained and cleaned at the doctor’s office. He’s on antibiotics, and he needs to have the nail checked, cleaned, and rebandaged each day. That’s not the caregiver’s job. Medical duties are your dad’s responsibility, and if he can’t do it, hire a senior home care aide.
Your dad can have a caregiver remind him to take his prescriptions, but if he needs medication injected, a caregiver cannot do it for him. If he’s diabetic, his caregiver cannot inject the insulin for him.
Caregivers Are There to Help Your Dad
The final thing to know about senior home care aides is that they’re there for your dad. If you stop in to visit, the caregiver isn’t there to cook a meal for the entire family or get your drink. Remember that the caregiver is being paid to help your dad, not wash up the dishes you get dirty or do your laundry during your visit.
Learn more about senior home care by talking to a specialist in elder care. The advisor can go over the prices, available services, and how to get on the schedule. Call to get started.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Senior Home Care in Glen Rock, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Applause Home Care today. Call (201) 326-8051
Applause Home Care provides independent, non-franchised quality Home Care for elders and families in and around Fort Lee, Hackensack, Ridgewood, Wyckoff, Paramus, Glen Rock, Pompton Plains, Franklin Lakes, Westwood, Montvale, and Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
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