If you are looking for home health care in California, you might sometimes come across another term: home care. Because they sound like each other, you might mistake one for the other. But they have fundamental differences you need to know. Let’s take a closer look at both and learn which one would best suit your care needs.
Types Of Elderly Care Services
What Is Home Care
To start, we look at what home care is exactly. In its simplest definition, home care refers to non-clinical care services provided to people who need assistance in doing daily activities. Such services include:
- Bathing, toileting, daily grooming
- Meal preparation
- Medication reminders
- Companionship
- Housekeeping duties (cleaning, laundry, and other chores)
- Transportation
Aside from these services, wards can request more specialized assistance based on their specific living conditions. The goal of these services is to help the patient live safely and comfortably in their homes. As such, many elderly who wish to live independently get these services. Recovering patients also opt for such after they are discharged from the hospital.
Note that home care might be either a standalone service or as part of a broader health care program. With the former, the service handles all the tasks. In the latter’s case, the provider coordinates with medical personnel to do some of its work.
The Types Of Home Care Available
There are several main types of home care services that you can sign up for. Their main difference is the scope of services that they provide. Thus, you want to select one that covers your needs.
Personal Care
This type focuses mainly on helping wards with personal daily tasks, such as bathing and getting dressed. The amount of assistance the caregiver provides depends on the ward’s capabilities. For mostly abled people, that might be limited to assisting them in performing tasks they have difficulties with. For those who have mobility problems, home care workers might also assist in moving them, such as pushing wheelchairs or lifting them to their beds.
Nursing Care
This type of home care is for people who require medical care but do not need a complete medical team. Such needs include administering medications, wound care, and catheter insertion. A single nurse can carry out such tasks and would typically visit several times a week to do these.
Companionship Care
In some cases, your loved one might be fully capable of taking care of themselves. However, they might feel some form of loneliness due to living alone. Such loneliness can affect their health. For that, home care providers can assign staff that would serve as their companions. They will typically engage in conversations and other activities their wards want to do.
Live-In Care
In most home care situations, the caregiver only stays part of the day, usually in the morning to the afternoon. But there are situations where you or your loved one need round-the-clock care. For instance, they might need constant monitoring if they are starting to show signs of dementia. Here, you can have the caregiver move in with them.
Respite Home Care
At the other end of the home care spectrum is respite home care. This is a temporary service meant to help existing caregivers take a break from the task. A care worker would come in for the day and oversee your loved one while you do your other activities.
What Is Home Health Care?
As mentioned earlier, home care and home health care are very similar to each other. Their main difference is that the latter deals with a chronic medical condition. Thus, it employs a full team of professionals that will oversee a patient’s needs.
The length of home health care also depends largely on the discretion of doctors. They might prescribe it for a given amount of time as long as they see symptoms of the illness.
The following people are the most common ones who might need home health care services.
- Patients recently discharged from hospitalization
- Seniors who need monitoring after a medication change
- Older people who might already be experiencing a steady decline in health
- Patients who are unable to travel to and from doctor visits due to their weak health.
Note that this is where overlap between home care and home health care can occur. Depending on the patient’s specific condition, your attending physician will decide on which of these two to recommend to you. Also, you might need to transition from one care program to the other depending on how your health progresses.
FAQ About Home Health Services
Types Of Home Health Care Services
Due to the above overlap, home health care might offer some of the above services provided by home care. Besides that, there are also specific services that the former will have. This might be different from provider to provider, so you would want to review each option carefully.
Doctor Care
A doctor will visit your home for regular checkups and monitoring of your conditions. They will also periodically review your home health care needs and provide recommendations. If the situation permits, the doctor might also oversee any home treatment you are undergoing.
Medication Management
While home care also provides medication management, that is on a basic level. The one that home health care provides is a lot more extensive. Assigned aides will help you administer medication that requires specialized application like IV drips. The service can also help you procure specialized medical equipment that you might need.
Physical And Occupational Therapy
If you have been recently discharged from the hospital after a long time, you might need to relearn how to do some daily activities. Or your loved one needs help in improving their speech after a stroke. Home health care services can help you conduct those therapy sessions at your own home.
Nutritional Support
Depending on your medical condition, you might need to follow a specific kind of diet. Dietitians provided by the home health service will come to you and review your current diet plan. They might also oversee the scheduling of meals and medication to ensure that you follow the plan closely.
Medical Social Services
Recovering from an illness or a major operation might also require you to undergo some mental rehabilitation. Home health care providers will give you access to counseling specialists. Additionally, they can help you get in touch with other services that you might need.
Get The Best Home And Home Health Care In California
Now that you know the distinction between the two types of in-home assistance services, it would be easy to determine which one best suits you. And you don’t need to go far and wide to find the best home and home health care in California. Connect with us at Amavi and we will give you what you need.