The demand for home care is as high as its importance in healthcare delivery. Ideally, healthcare can improve stupendously if it is aligned with a proper and professional home care. There are of such service providers but all may not be suitable for your needs. Ideally, home care service provider should be selected based on different parameters such as:
- The experience of the agency in home care
- The number of years in service
- The reputation in the market
- The types of services provided and
- The previous track records.
When you choose a home care agency based on these parameters you will end up partnering with the best one that will suit your needs.
Ensure proper care for the seniors
A proper home care service will assure proper care for the seniors. That is why home care is so important considering the ever-risingaging population of the nation. Home care services provide different types of service by different types of trained and professional caregivers. They, in fact, help the seniors age with dignity.
The seniors pass through different phases of the aging process and in each of these phases they have varied types of needs. All these needs change as they pass through these phases.
- The home care givers focus on these varied needs of each individual senior and design their home care processes.
- They provide both medical as well as non-medical home care and make sure that their care giving process forms the baseline of the care continuum of the seniors.
- In addition to that, they also provide a strong foundation that helps them to make their medical care more responsive and effective.
In short, they cover every bits and pieces of the care process for the seniors on the whole looking after their daily needs.
Features of home care
Most people think that home care is all about medical care and assistance provided to the aging and the ailing which ideally is a wrong notion entirely. According to the industry experts, home care is not about taking care of seniors suffering from medical problems.
Any professional and reliable home care agency will look into several other aspects apart from the medical issues such as:
- Social issues
- Emotional issues and
- All home-based needs.
It is for this reason home care is also known as personal care or companion care. While addressing those non-medical needs, the home care services are actually provided by trained caregivers. Apart from the basic medical assistance and care, they also help in different other aspects of daily activities of the seniors such as:
- Cooking
- Cleaning
- Bathing
- Eating
- Dressing up
- Transportation and
- Keeping doctor’s appointments
There are also other support services provided by the caregivers such as social interaction for the seniors so that they are not isolated otherwise.
The type and amount of care can be customized according to the needs of the patient. It can be provided for a couple of hours of the day or even around the clock, depending on the condition of the patient and the needs of care.
- However, at this point it is important to remember that the seniors who have companionship are usually happier and are far less likely to bedepressed as compared to those seniors who do not have such companionship.
- It is also noted that the seniors who receive good nutrition and live in a healthy and clean environment tend to have much fewer medical issues overall as compared to those seniors who live in unhealthy conditions.
Therefore, in short it can be said that, the home care givers contribute to the overall well-being of the senior and eventually results in much better medical outcomes.
A partnership job
In order to ensure that the home care process is effective and result driven it is required to work together.
- This will enable the caregivers to make the best use of the natural opportunities that medical care and home care provides to the seniors.
- This will further ensure that the care process followed for the specific patient is consistent.
However, communication is key and that will facilitate the aging process of the seniors in their homes. Being within their own familiar environments, a carefully designed home care will ensure that they take the full advantage of home medical care as well as telehealth options.
About telehealth
Telehealth is a new forte in the healthcare industry. This is an emerging field that has all the potential to become an effective and useful tool, it can provide a lot of benefits in the healthcare process such as:
- It can save lives
- Reduce ER visits and hospitalizations
- Reduce the cost of medical care and even
- Seniors can get monitoring as well as check-ups without having to leave the comfort of their homes.
With all these benefits provided telehealth will surely become an integral part of the healthcare continuum when the seniors realize it. It will be even more effective when it works hand in hand with home health care and home care.
The final thought
As seniors age, their needs change. This asks for a care process that will gradually transition from typically non-medical home care to more of home health care. This is an option that is more affordable for the senior who are left with no steady income but their pension and retirement benefits. It will enable them to stay in their homes for even longer and also have the independence they wish as well as get the medical and non-medical care they deserve.
Everyone who is involved in providing home care to the seniors need to be highly committed so that they can work together with their clients in order to ensure the best possible outcomes. Modern technological development and its use in senior health care helps the home care agencies to foster collaboration with both medical and non-medical providers which helps them to keep the seniors happier and healthier.
Just make sure that when you research for the care options you consider the different types of care and choose the one based on the current needs.
