With their weaker bodies, the elderly are often vulnerable to a wide variety of health issues. But their families are sometimes not capable of providing adequate care and support. This is where home health care services and other elderly facilities become essential. Let’s explore what they offer and how you can find the right one for your needs.
Why Elderly Care Services Are Essential
To better appreciate the presence of elderly care services, you need to understand why you need them. There are several benefits that you can get from signing up with senior care services. All of these ensure that you or your loved ones get the full care you need.
They Have Better Facilities
The elderly, especially those with significant health issues, often have special requirements. While you might be able to procure some of these on your own, there would still be stuff that would be out of your reach. For instance, dedicated medical equipment for specific conditions can be costly.
Home health care services and other senior care providers have these facilities as part of their business. They can customize those services based on the exact needs of the patient. As such, you don’t have to go through a lengthy process of securing each need.
You Get Experienced Staff
Along with the facilities, you would also need to have the right people taking care of your older loved one. Senior care facilities assign highly trained caregivers to patients. They cover a wide variety of tasks like:
- Administering medications
- Monitoring diet plans
- Assisting in medical procedures
- Operating medical equipment
- Overseeing therapy sessions
The provider assigns a caregiver with the skills for handling the specific needs of the elder. Beyond the above health care tasks, the caregiver can also provide companionship and socialization. This is particularly important, as seniors can be lonely when living in a healthcare facility.
It Provides Strong Support
Taking care of seniors isn’t just about ensuring that they are getting their medications right. You will also need to have a support system to back them up. Elderly care services can provide you that support in a variety of ways.
First off, you get access to different medical support services. Providers often collaborate with numerous hospitals and clinics for the medical services needed by their wards. This eases a lot of the burden from them and their families.
Besides medical support, senior health care services also offer emotional and mental support. It has a team of psychologists and counselors that will help seniors and their families cope with any distress they feel. Additionally, they may offer spiritual guidance for downtrodden patients.
The Types Of Elderly Health Care Services
Now that you know what role senior care services play, you should also be familiar with the types of services available. Each type has its benefits that will suit the specific condition that you might have.
Skilled Care Service
This type of service provides caregivers specially trained to provide highly skilled care. This is often related to specific medical conditions. Such skilled personnel include registered nurses and physical, speech, and occupational therapists.
Some of the specific services that you will find under this category are:
- Wound care
- Physical therapy sessions
- Medical monitoring
- Administering intravenous medication
The service might be for a short duration, depending on your needs. You can also go for a long-term arrangement if you are suffering from chronic illnesses and require round-the-clock assistance.
Supportive Care
For seniors who do not have significant medical conditions but still require assistance, there is supportive care. This covers things like assisting them when eating or doing their activities. The service may also handle custodial tasks like housekeeping and running errands. You can get supportive care in different settings like at home, at adult daycare facilities, or in nursing homes.
Home Health Care
For seniors who want to stay at a more familiar place, this type of elderly care brings the service to their homes. Depending on your condition, this option might utilize both skilled and supportive care services. Aside from the main service, you can sign up for others depending on your need.
Adult Day Care
This service provides senior care during the daytime only, allowing the elder’s family to do other things. There are two subtypes of services you can get. Adult day social care provides supervised and structured care. Meanwhile, adult day medical also includes medical activities like those in nursing homes.
Things to Consider When Getting Elderly Care
To ensure that you or your elderly loved one will get the care you need, you need to study the options available. Here are some important considerations you have to take into account to get the best care service.
The Elder’s Choice
Even before you think about what type of care your older loved one needs, you should consider what kind of care they want. This is important, as their wishes will serve as your guide for developing a more personalized care plan. That kind of care is something that they can readily get into.
A senior often has two options here. Either they age in place or move to a senior institution. Aging in place means that they stay in their current residence. For this, they can either opt for home health care services or some form of assisted living. On the other hand, they can choose from a variety of institutions to suit their preferences if they decide to move in.
As such, the provider you sign up for should provide a good amount of customization to match the senior’s preferences. Aside from the initial ones, you would also want to look into what future options are available. This will help the care plan adapt in case of the senior’s changing preferences.
The Pre Consultation Process
Once you have determined the preferences of your elderly loved one, you can begin screening available providers. For this, you need to ask specific questions like:
- What scheduling options are available for my loved one?
- Can the schedules be modified to fit their activities?
- How much input will my loved one have in meal planning?
- What systems are there to help my loved one find the right caregiver?
These questions will give you an idea of the pros and cons of the provider’s services. They will also tell you how much involvement you will have in developing the care plan.
Aside from these, inquire about the qualifications of the provider as well as the individual caregivers. It would be a good idea to contact the relevant organizations like the National Board For Certification Of Hospice And Palliative Nurses. That will help you determine whether the certifications providers present are legitimate.
Get The Best Home Health Care Services
At Amavi, we fully understand the importance of providing the best care services for seniors. Be it home health care services or institutional care, we are ready to give it to you or your loved one. Contact us today and we will show you what we offer.