Category: Elderly Home Care

Know the Different Types of Home Health Care Services

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Sometimes when your loved ones, especially elders, are ill, they need care provided by a full-time caregiver. Home healthcare services specialise in the treatment of home-bound patients with physical or mental illnesses. The options that come within home health care services are limitless; however, based on the person’s medical condition, you could select the ones most appropriate for your loved one.

 

Here we listed some of the common personal care services for the elderly.

  • Nursing care

    – this is the most common service offered by a personal home care In nursing care, a registered nurse is sent to the patient’s residence where they take responsibility for the patient’s medical needs. Their services range from applying wound dressing, administering intravenous therapy, giving medication, helping reduce pain, to monitoring the overall health of the patient.

  • Physical, speech, and/or occupational therapy–

    some patients fail to remember how to use their limbs, as a result of a chronic illness or injury. This is where a physical therapist set up a plan for care. They work with the patient to help them regain their physical abilities to carry out routine activities such as eating, bathing, dressing, etc. Often, a speech therapist is a separate resource hired to work with the patient to restore their power of speech.

 

  • Doctor care –

    to treat illnesses, a qualified doctor can visit a patient at their home. They may also assess the patient’s home health care needs, and make recommendations accordingly.

  • Medical social service–

    medical social workers are different from general physicians. They are good with counselling, and hiring community resources to help patients, especially for personal care of the elderly.

  • Home-focused health aides–

    home health carers work to help patients with their personal needs, including walking, sitting up, bathing, eating, and dressing.

  • Additional care–

    while home care professionals are normally committed to taking care of personal needs, they may accede to additional work on the patient’s request. Additional duties may include preparing a meal, doing the laundry, going grocery shopping, paying bills, etc.

  • Companionship–

    patients with social isolation disorder seek companionship more than any other treatment. They want a companion to spend time with them, comfort them, as well as supervise their care.

  • Nutritional support–

    dietitians can visit the patient’s home to provide a dietary assessment and guide them into adopting a healthy and nutritious diet.

  • Volunteer care–

    volunteers can make a personal home care plan a success. They can even support a patient’s health by providing companionship, transportation, emotional support, and/or helping them with administrative work.

  • Laboratory and X-ray imaging–

    certain work require you to show up at clinic or hospital no matter how much you’ve been trying to avoid them. Luckily, home care services can help in terms of laboratory testing and x-ray imaging. Modern-day healthcare technicians can use portable X-ray machines, and visit the patient at their home, to get the necessary work done.

  • Pharmaceutical services–

    if necessary, the medical equipment and medication can be delivered to a patient’s home. Additionally, pharmaceutical services can train the caregiver and/or the patient on how to use specific medical equipment.

  • Meal delivery–

    ordering takeout is quite popular these days. A large number of home care facilities offer meal delivery service to patients with mental or physical disabilities. The frequency with which they deliver the meals depends on the patient’s needs.

Looking for home care services in Birmingham? Care4U is the right organisation to contact. At Care4U, we offer personal care for the elderly, disabled, or anyone above 18. Call us and let us know what type of home care you or your loved one require. Contact us at (0121) 356 5032 – we’ll be happy to be of service.

What Emotional Challenges do Caregivers Face?

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For the people who provide personal care for the elderly, it gives them a huge opportunity to stay near and connect with them. However, with opportunities comes challenges, and while most consider personal home care as their responsibility, the obligation might become challenging to fulfill sometimes. The stress and pressures of caregiving can affect everyone in different ways and the causes may include anything that makes a person adapt to changes. While our elderly need care from our sides, there are alternatives care options like hiring home care services in Birmingham, makes it easier for people to stay involved even if they can’t be there for their loved ones personally.

 

Understanding Home Care Challenges

Understanding the challenges that follow a care-giving process helps a person make more planned decisions regarding the care for their elderly. Personal home care is a very stressful activity in itself, and there are ways to reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with it. Experts suggest that a person may feel stressed or depressed during care-giving, but suppressing those symptoms can worsen the situation. As the person feels that the responsibilities of personal care for the elderly are becoming overwhelming, it is time to take necessary actions. Working with a professional home care services in Birmingham will help reduce that stress, preventing any emotional burnout.

 

Challenges Present in Care giving

While providing personal home care for a family member proves to be a rewarding experience, it may sometimes lead to challenges that make a person anxious, feel burnout, or becoming intimidated by the duty. Some of the most common challenges for caregivers are:

 

  • Stress

The most common challenge faced by people during personal care for the elderly is the stress in both physical and mental aspects. Most of the time, their health is also compromised due to care-giving stress and pressures. Providing care for conditions like dementia or Alzheimer’s has been reported as the most common cause of stress. Other physical demands of care-giving also start to take their toll on a person due to duties that include lifting or mobility.

 

  • Time Management

People providing personal home care for their elderly often feel that they have less time to manage for themselves or their families. They often indulge themselves so much in their duties that they have to sacrifice their commitments or things they love like hobbies-or vacations. A way to manage time is to take help from home care services in Birmingham to effectively allocate time for themselves and their commitments and balance their work schedules during care-giving duties.

 

  • One’s Changes

Let’s face it, personal care for the elderly is not an easy job as you have to take care of them just as you take care of a baby, especially for the elderly with dementia or mobility issues. A person has to spend sleepless nights while making sure that the medications and nutrition stay on track, all of this with along with their own work responsibilities. All these factors start to produce stress and ultimately take its toll, resulting in behavioural changes. A person may suddenly burst out on their family members or anyone else for that matter. Reliable home care services in Birmingham can take some of that burden off your shoulders so you can have the rest and time you need to re-energize yourself.

 

  • Privacy Issues

Most of the personal home caregivers report having a lack of privacy once they start to take care of their loved ones. This fact is somewhat true as it is difficult to set boundaries against constant interactions, especially in places with a smaller area.

 

  • Financial Issues

Most of the people providing personal care for the elderly often are unpaid or had to take time off from their paying jobs. This starts to produce financial strain on those people, and the longer they keep fulfilling the duty, the more financially unstable they become. Hiring the services of home care services in Birmingham enables them to attend their jobs while the experts take care of the elders for them.

 

  • Sleeplessness

One of the most common challenges that occur for a personal home caregiver is the lack of sleep due to the sleep-wake cycle of the loved one. Such lack of sleep puts more strain on a person who is already under constant toll from all sides. Lack of sleep also puts a strain on their health and makes their condition worse.

 

Final Word

Taking care of a loved one is a rewarding experience and a chance to connect with the elderly. However, these points mentioned above makes the responsibility all the more difficult for anyone providing personal care for the elderly. Sometimes they may be too shy to ask for help, but in any case, professional services may help them in sharing their burden as well as providing them with time to balance their work and personal life too.

5 Important Elements for Elderly Home Care

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For a variety of reasons, most caregivers choose to provide care to the elderly at home. Given the situation remains safe for all those involved, providing personal home care is a wonderful thing to do. You must remember that senior care is one of the most difficult and stressful jobs in the world, and the number of caregivers has high risk of burnouts and other health conditions.

If you are the one providing care at home services to the elderly, you have to keep up with the pace, as you cannot operate at 100% efficiency every day. This helps you in providing care services effectively while remaining healthy in the end.

To help you keep going and provide excellent home care services, we list 5 important elements for elderly home care to consider.

  1. Experience

For those providing personal home care assistance to elderly citizens need to give high-quality care on par with the skills and experience of the staff. Any of the required tasks like chores, bathing, grooming and financial management needs readily assisted in a kind, empathetic and effective manner.

Experience in care services serves as the main prospect through which those who need assistance determine the best caregivers for their elderly. The experience should always be patient-centred that takes into account all of your preferences and goals. Your experience should resonate with the service you opt to provide.

  1. Empathy

The most common complain care at home service providers receive is the unprofessional and unsympathetic attitude of the care aides towards the elderly. Compassion, respect and empathy serve as the cornerstones of quality care service. Those employed in the field need a kind-hearted attitude towards the elderly so they can lead a healthy and happy life.

Mostly complains from seniors cite issues like aides snapping at them, behaving sarcastically, rolling their eyes and muttering in a disrespectful way. Our elderly deserve all the care they can get from us and behaving in such a manner is never acceptable. Empathy towards old and elders needs top priority for caregivers.

  1. Professionalism

The person coming in your home is an elderly home care professional who knows how to provide care and assistance our seniors need to lead a healthy and happy life. The individual, on the other hand, needs to display professionalism through their attitude and service at all times. Professionalism means different things in a different context, but in the case of senior care service, it means:

  • Showing up on scheduled timings
  • Arriving with necessary equipment and accessories
  • Immediately begin tending to needs and assistance
  • Not taking long breaks or disappear without notice
  • Not taking the mind off things during working hours

If a person employed shows any of these behaviours, they are not at all serious and professional in their duty. They need to be by your side every time as they are here to assist you and not to do anything else.

  1. Affordability

Care at home services are the most preferred services by elderly and senior citizens to give them the best care facility. In addition to providing them with quality care and self-reliance, their services are also preferred due to their affordable prices. There is a corresponding range of prices offered by various agencies who employ highly trained professionals for their services.

Those who give the best pricing and have a reputation often get selected. Those in need of assistance make their decision based on their budget.

  1. Reputation

Your elderly home care service needs to have an excellent reputation regarding the service and should have positive reviews present online. A simple review may count for an addition of another client in your list that needs your service. Today, employers count on online search results and reviews by other clients as a sure-fire way of finding a quality care aide or agency. Be sure to keep your reputation positive and have positive reviews present to portray you as a reputed service provider.

Apart from all these elements, quality personal home care providers also tend to give a helping hand in other specialised services that meet the individual needs of the elderly. Whether they require flu shots or IV-drips management, these service providers also assist them during their hours.

Conclusion

Elderly home care aides become an integral part of an elderly person’s life due to the care they provide. Whether you are an agency that provides professional home care services or is one yourself, you need to consider these elements. These factors serve as the benchmark and foundations of a quality care service that elderly people deserve. The kind and compassionate attitude towards the elderly is of utmost importance as they are the ones in need of our assistance. Giving proper care not only provide comfort to clients but also leaves you with a peace of mind and satisfaction.

Loneliness – A Rising Endemic in The United Kingdom

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According to a recent survey, one in three of the elderly living in the United Kingdom has complained of feeling lonely. You might be inclined to linking their loneliness to a lack of friends, family, or people around them in general. That is, in fact, not the case.

The truth is that in most scenarios, the elderly have lived a pleased, fulfilling life – filled with people left, right, and centre. However, it’s a fact: Life goes on, people keep gaining speed.

As you grow older, your speed dwindles further and further until you realise you aren’t running anymore. You’re walking briskly or maybe just dragging your feet along. Would anyone slow down for you?

This is the scenic description of the statistic mentioned above – people don’t slow down. This leaves the elderly feeling unneeded, unwanted, and thus lonely.

What Is Elderly Home Care?

People in the United Kingdom aren’t unaware of the fact that loneliness is becoming an endemic with an increasing number of people having been shut to their houses for weeks on end.

This isn’t solely linked to emotional disturbances. There are chances that their lack of support, in general, might be a problem for their health.

For example, imagine an older man or woman who needs help with basic needs such as bathing, cooking, or dressing. Their age is becoming an increasing factor that prevents them from doing what others would consider necessary.

Thus, the establishment of elderly home care. This is a service rendered by many companies across the United Kingdom – and increasingly in the world, whereby companies offer dedicated staff to spend hourly or round the clock services to the elderly.

Services might be assistance in basic needs, domestic needs, or just fellowship and companionship. All of these services are availed by people who have chosen not to go to retirement homes and would much rather spend their living moments in their home, their sanctuary.

The Difference with Personal Home Care

These companies don’t solely offer their services to the elderly. They aid anyone living in a situation that might not be synonymous with ‘normalcy.’

The term is used pretty loosely here. Normalcy isn’t limited to those in their twenties. People with an able mind would be normal. However, the name used in this context is synonymous with the independence to complete basic needs.

Adapting Homes

One way to help the old or the disabled is to adapt their living situations in such a way that they could get on about their day with ease. The need for fellowship is still there, but their reliance should be reduced to a considerable extent to make them feel more independent.

Let’s face it; we crave independence, and being old or disabled shouldn’t take it away from us. Hence, occupational therapists all over the country are implying their strategies to help people consider options to improve their living situations.

Necessarily, it’s their job to help adapt home situations for people with disabilities or a lack of motor skills to carry out day to day functions. They consider factors such as wheelchair dependency, bathroom tasks, house help, and stairs, or other exerting factors.

Home adaptation is manifested with the instalment of ramps, handrails, and medical alert buttons. What are medical alert buttons? Well, they’re alarms that go off in their houses that signal hospitals, emergency service providers, or friends and family that they require immediate medical assistance.

These are just some of the things to consider. The person themselves can likely give you the best indication as to things they are struggling with mobility-wise at home, and either you or the occupational therapist can then think of creative ways to help them out with their situation.

Emotional Assistance

Regardless of disability or ailing health due to age, it is essential to make sure that the person in question does not lose their purpose.

It is alarming to note the number of people who have taken such a toll on their mental wellbeing that they’ve just given up trying at this point. Help the person see how they can live just as much of a meaningful life as the next person regardless of their situation.

To thrive mentally or emotionally would require that the person in question has a stable support system. They must find ways to enjoy their life as well as feel like they can make meaningful contributions to the world around them.

Care For You

At Care for You, we’re a dedicated company operating in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, working with some of the most skilled and dedicated employees with every necessary credential to aid living for the old and disabled. From domestic help to medical assistance to even emotional health – the company offers services of all sorts.