Tag: Care for you

How You Can Live Well With a Disability

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People frequently realize the value and importance of things in life once they are gone, and health can also be counted as one of those blessings that are taken for granted. Most people regret their short-term decisions once their health starts to deteriorate as a direct consequence of those decisions. Although our family and friends do say we care for you, what is lost cannot be retrieved. It is a difficult task to adjust to life with a disability as it is easy to obsess over the health we once had. While you cannot turn back time to the moment when you were healthy, you can make certain adjustments to live the life you have and cope with that disability.

Many helping hands in Birmingham provide emotional and physical support that can help you maintain your quality of life and live it fully even with a disability. You will be able to define that you are not limited by your disability to lead a comfortable and healthy life.

  • Understand your disability

Understanding your disability is the first step towards giving you the power to live with it successfully. This is particularly important if the disability is new to you, and you have a hard time adjusting to it. Having helping hands  Birmingham can help you understand the attributes of your disability and help you cope with it. As yourself whether the disability is temporary or permanent and if there is any support available for you. Once you have an answer to these questions, there will be people around you who will say we care for you.

  • Focus on Your Strengths

Whenever you have a chronic or new disability, that does not mean you are useless in any way. If you have a weakness, you are sure to have strengths in some other area. Try to focus on those strengths and things you are still good at and grow those as much as possible. Many helping hands in Birmingham will be there for you once you start to adjust yourself to your new lifestyle. Always speak about the things you can do rather than what you cannot do. You will start to notice considerable changes in your lifestyle by focusing on your strengths.

  • Do Not Isolate Yourself

Difficulties and hurdles are a necessary part of life that define us and how we progress. Whoever has a disability, they should turn down every urge to isolate themselves under all circumstances. Isolation will lead to negative thoughts, which will, in turn, weaken your abilities. Go outside, meet people, and have quality time with your family, you will be surprised how life reacts to this behaviour of yours.

  • Stay Positive

You can lead a healthier and happier life once you start to remain optimistic about everything. Being positive will make you think less about your disability and more about how you can lead your life as you wish. You can stay positive by joining programs organized by helping hands in Birmingham, or you can train yourself to stay positive even in the most difficult of times to lead a happy life. Stimulate your life by trying to find good in everything, even if it is minimal.

  • Maintain Your Interests

You should not stop doing what you love or pursue your passion if you have any disability. Try to maintain your hobbies and interests to keep yourself in the game and tell yourself you care for yourself, and there is nothing that can stop you from living your life. If you like playing an instrument, by all means, play it to your heart’s content. If you are passionate about photography, take that camera and start taking nature’s blessings in disguise. You will notice you have started to love life again, which you had lost some time ago.

  • Look For Professions

Start looking for jobs that will complement your abilities to stay financially stable and running. While you may not be able to keep your previous job due to disability, there are plenty of helping hands available in Birmingham that can offer you new opportunities. Make a list of things you are good at and start looking for occupations that resonate with it. Just remember, it is illegal for an employer to reject you due to your disability, so use this to your advantage and live your life.

Final Word

Whether you have a chronic disability or any accidental event that happened to you, make sure not to make that disability your weakness. Your friends and family might say we care for you, but the only person that can fully understand the situation is yourself. You might have taken your health for granted once but do not make that same mistake again. Keep your head up and go live your life to the fullest. Life may have thrown a curveball at you, but you can swing that bat and score a point.

What is Respite Care? How to Approach Your Loved Ones regarding Respite Care

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Respite care can be defined as a short period of relief or rest from caring for people who depend on you. Caring for a loved one can be one of the most beautiful things one can experience. However, the other side of the story is that it can get hard sometimes. You can feel yourself to be on the ‘giving’ end of the equation, and there could be no end in sight to your current situation. You are a caregiver. You are responsible for the care of your loved one. And you are doing the best you can. What you do is wonderful as nobody can care as much for your loved one as you can.

The estimates from the Alzheimer’s Association indicate that there are approximately 15.5 million friends and family members engaged in over 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care for their loved ones with Alzheimer’s or some other form limiting illness. The statistics seem staggering, and as a caregiver, sometimes, you also need to be taken care of. Everybody needs a break from their same monotonous routine, and so does a caregiver – a period of rest so that a caregiver can recharge and be ready to be on the ‘giving end’ of the equation. This is where respite care comes in. Respite care Birmingham can provide you anywhere from a few hours to a few days to do what you need to do for yourself. This could be anything from going to a doctor’s appointment or sleeping uninterrupted for several hours or maybe catching up with the people of your age. Approximately 40-70% of caregivers will experience symptoms of depression and anxiety that reflect on the constant emotional labour of caring for someone they love.

How to Approach Your Loved Ones Regarding Respite Care

Becoming a recipient of personal care from someone else is not an easy choice for anybody. The decision can strike your loved one as loss of independence, and the first response from almost every care recipient is a feeling of being overwhelmed and depressed.

While it is essential to respect their wishes in this regard, it is also significant that they are receiving the proper care they need. The course of convincing them to allow respite care should be accomplished with the recognition of their feelings, regular reassurances, and overall dignity. If you truly want your loved one to be cared for, this is not something you should rush them into. Here is what we think of how you should disclose this decision to your loved one.

Homework is Important

This is no discussion you could begin without doing some homework and research. You need to research the respite care services that are available in your locality so that you can be ready to talk about different options with your loved one. Knowing about the specifics reassures them that you respect and care about their needs, and this will be a mutual decision for their better health.

Begin the Conversation with Questions

Just like every other conversation, it is better if you let the other person come up with their own solution for the problem. If you know the right questions to ask, you may be able to get their approval for respite care faster than you thought. The questions can be anything like “what would happen if you fell and I was out completing chores?” or any other questions that could lead them to respite care as an option.

Pick the Right Place and Time

Owing to the sensitive nature of the conversation, you really need you think about the time and place you choose to bring up this conversation. Indulging in this conversation on Christmas Day may not be suitable. Rather than picking a special day, you need to choose a random day to take them out for lunch. The idea here is to take emotion out of the situation, as this may cloud their decision. This is exactly the reason why your own home is not the best place for this conversation to take place.

Make Your Loved Ones the Focus of Conversation

While it may be challenging to take your own needs and wants out of the equation, it is crucial to keep the focus of the conversation on the needs of your loved one. If you don’t make their needs the Center Point of your conversation, they might misunderstand and feel like you’re deserting them. You need to bring their safety and overall health to the table. Consider the existing situation and get them thinking about what comes next. Be honest and respect their feelings during the talk.

“I Care for You” – A Guide to Taking Care of Your Elderly Parents

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Ageing is a part of the life cycle, and it affects all the families in the world. As young adults, we may not comprehend the extent while imagining our parents as seniors and not exactly understand how their ageing affects them or us. If they are seniors and already in good health then we may not feel any dramatic changes or concerns. However, a time comes when their health starts to lower and effects of ageing become evident. At this time, they need someone to say, “I care for you”.

A decline in physical and mental strength shows evident changes in the appearance, emotional well-being and quality of life for our parents. Many institutions provide helping hand in Birmingham, but the key here is to know more about their ageing and what options we have to give them the care they deserve. Let us consider some important features through which we can easily state that we care for you and your well-being.

Activities of Daily Living

These daily essentials are the activities necessary for the physical and emotional well-being and dignity of our parents. These ensure that the daily living requirements and daily needs have effectively met. The basic activities of daily living are as follows:

  • Self-feeding
  • Mobility (getting out of bed, out of chair etc.)
  • Bathing or showering
  • Dressing
  • Personal Hygiene
  • Toilet Hygiene

In case they have impaired mobility or have health, issues that make it difficult for them to perform these daily activities on their own, you need proper assistance. Whether look for helping hands in Birmingham like Care4U or find appropriate equipment or accessories. Either way, your parents need care and assistance to perform these tasks and continue doing thing independently.

Other activities that do not specify themselves as essentials but present in daily living termed as instruments of everyday life. These IDL’s most often refer to certain activities like:

  • Meal preparation
  • Taking medications
  • Marinating the house
  • Running errands and money management
  • Communicating through phone or other devices

Again, these activities serve as the well-being fundamentals for parents if they are met adequately. Arrangement of help is possible if you or your siblings are the ones giving it or other institutions like Care4U that provide professional care to the elderly.

Living Arrangements

A critical point to look for in the well-being of parent care is the condition they live in. Whether along or close to you or any relative, living arrangements need serious discussions with the elderly. Some most common type of living arrangements for parents listed below serve as most preferred ones:

  • Ageing in a home is the most preferred condition where the elderly stay in the comfort of their homes. No other thing is better than the ongoing care given by you to your parents at home.
  • Those parents, looking for mobile homes or rental apartments to live with other seniors who prefer independent living communities. Amenities provided like laundry, fitness gyms, housekeeping etc. serve as their fulfilment of daily activities. Those who live independently but still need assistance may look for assisted living communities.
  • Nursing homes provide a helping hand in Birmingham for seniors that require medical assistance and caregiving but do not need a hospital. These homes offer staff available for every care facilities.
  • Some seniors need assistance in healthcare and daily activities while living with relatives for companionship.

Finances

There is no doubt that finances play the most impactful part in supporting caregiving and making necessary changes. Elderly need assistance in managing their finances and retirement funds to make them financially secure during senior years.

Getting Help from Support Groups

Support groups can provide you with a helping hand in Birmingham that gives you much needed support in caregiving. Some great sources of the support group are:

  • Government benefits serve as the best source of help in providing information regarding benefits and assistance programs. These cover health, insurance, disability income and many more
  • Area agency is a federally maintained agency in town staffed by professional who knows about caregiving services for seniors. They have funds available that support the eligible elderly parents for assistance.

Final Word

In the end, we all take a caregiver role for our elderly parents even if we do not live with them or provide daily care. As parents, they once provided care and concerns for us and now is the time to give it back to them and say, “I care for you and will assist you in every way I can”. No matter how you look at it, care for parent’s means that have a healthy and safe life and know they have all the care they need. You feel a peace of mind if you feel a surety in their well-being.

Live-In Care Services – Your Sustenance in the Older Age

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Leading a “Quality Life” comes with the essence of Independency. Although there can be a lot of aspects associated with it, things are much easier when you’re young and healthy. Where you try your absolute best to set the bar of standards as high as it can get, things get a lot different as you pace towards the older age! It is certainly not an easy task to sustain the eminence of your life that you are used to when your physical capabilities are witnessing a constant deficit. So, what actually happens when you’re no longer able to maintain the same standards that you previously did? What will you possibly do if you want to relish your life the same way you did before? You consider the “Live-in Care” to help yourself out!

What is a Live-in Care?

A “Live-in Elder Care” is regarded as a 24-hour facility that is primarily focused on providing the required services to an elder in their own home. These caretaking services are generally provided by either a Nursing Agency that offers the “Home Health Aid” to the patients or someone who acts as a “Caregiver” at patient’s residence. The Live-in Care facilities are provided on a timely basis that is generally ranged from 12 or 24 hours of services provided to several days, depending on the patient’s needs. Typically, a Live-in caregiver is appointed to provide assistance that ranges from household cleaning, bathing, getting dressed, and preparing meals for the elderly they’re living with. Although a Live-in Caregiver is generally present throughout the day, they don’t necessarily “live-in” at the older person’s home!

Although a Live-in Caretaker can be appointed to sleep at the senior’s residence, they are usually not needed for assistance during the night. It is a generalised perception that a Live-in Caregiver “Moves” in with the client, but the reality is contrary to that! The caretaker can generally spend anywhere from 8 hours to numerous days at the senior’s residence, and consequently, the client (the elderly person) is required to provide them food and a place to sleep!

Who Requires Live-in Care Assistance?

Although a Live-in Care facility can primarily be appointed by anyone, who looks out for a certain level of sustenance to live in their own homes. But the regular employers are generally the elderlies who need assistance in their daily activities, 24/7. The reason why Live-in Care Facilities are being regarded as a prevalent solution that allows people to receive the required level of support at the comfort of their own home. The Live-in Care facilities are, although, not only restricted to the elderlies who simply need assistance with the daily chores. They can be selected as an option for your loved ones who are suffering from progressive conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neuron Disease etc. In a generalised context, Live-in care is for anyone who:

  • is recuperating from an illness
  • needs help to move around
  • is lonely
  • cannot take proper care of themselves
  • has no friends and family to take care of them
  • Is suffering from progressive conditions

What are the Benefits of a Live-In Elder Care Service?

One of the main benefits that are associated with the Live-in Elder Care Services is that the elders are served at the ease of their home. Although the services are primarily composed in such a way that does not compromise with the person’s safety, they are designed to significantly improve the quality of the elderly’s life. Subjected to the requirements of the dependent, the Live-in Care Services are personalised explicitly in such a way that maps out the goals that are set forth by the person’s caretaking team.  This may include them, their family, their doctor, and even the social workers that are legally permissible to approve such decisions. That being said, described below are some of the general benefits that are associated with opting the Live-in Care Services:

  • Better patient’s wellbeing
  • Enhanced diet controlled by the nutritional management and meal preparations
  • Thorough drug management that allows the elderlies to take their medications as prescribed
  • Better chances for the elderlies to socialise, particularly for the ones who are isolated and left out
  • Better involvement with the family
  • An evident decrease in stress and anxiety levels

Who are the Best Providers for Live-in Care in Birmingham?

If you’re finding it difficult to explore the best providers for the Live-in Care in Birmingham, put your search to a stop for we have prepared you a list that is ALL that you need to fulfil the needs of your loved ones in the best ways possible:

  1. Care 4U:

When it comes to finding the Best Live-in care in Birmingham, nothing matches the bar of excellence set by “Care 4U Agency”. Care 4U provides your loved ones with the most preeminent Live-in Care Services in Birmingham that allows them to appreciate interactive round-the-clock care on your terms. With the best rates across Birmingham, Care 4U is definitely what you need to give your loved ones the care that they need!

  1. Helping Hands:

As the name suggests, the Helping Hands Birmingham are yet another Live-in Care Facilitators in Birmingham that have been excelling the Home-Care services for the past 3 decades. It matters not if you need assistance for an hour to get your meal sorted out or it is more intensive sustenance that you need, “Helping Hands” team of professionals for the BEST Live-in Care in Birmingham are there for you round the clock!

How Respite Care Services Make Your Life Easier

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           Taking care of an elderly person back at your home or someone with “Special” needs can be an overwhelming task. It requires you to always be around them to make sure that they are being well taken care of. But it all is just a matter of time when things start getting out of hands for all the obvious reasons. You might be needing time to look after your own needs or get done with items that require your immediate attention. If you find yourself surrounded in a similar situation and don’t know what you must do to ensure that your loved is being consistently looked after, you’re not alone! This is when you need the “Respite Care“!

What is Respite Care?

“Respite Care” is now being regarded as a widely renowned phenomenon which is intended to providing the primary caregivers with the relief they need as a “Temporary Break”. It can be the breaks from taking care of the patients, the elderly, or the people with special needs. Appointing “Respite Care” provides you with the assistance of evading the predicaments that may occur due to neglecting the dependents; specifically aiming to delay the permanent standardization. While the question as to whether it does any of this, is highly debatable, the fact that it can be regarded as one of the massively cherished resources is undeniable!

Types of Respite Care:

Respite Care is generally appointed to ensure the safety of the dependent when the primary caretaker is unable to cope up with the overwhelming responsibilities due to any reasons. Depending on the needs of your reliant, “Respite Care” can informally be given by any other family member. But when it comes to preventing the provocation of the crisis, especially when the family caregiver is unable to provide the needed care, this is where the urge to recruit the emergency Respite Care becomes an irreplaceable resource! Out of all the possible reasons that ask for the need to call out for the Respite Care Service, described below are 3 of the most common types of “Respite Cares” that serve your needs:

  1. In-Home Respite Care:

Considering the needs of the dependent that you need Respite Care for, Home-Based Respite Care Services can be prearranged through a public nursing agency, or even through the department of social services and volunteers. Generally, a licensed professional is sent-in by the agency to cater the needs. While in-house respite care can usually last from a few hours to even weeks, this type of respite care suffices the dependent with the comfort of them being at their home!

  1. Out-of-Home Respite Care:

Respite Care Services provides the person being taken care off to have a chance to be outside their home. It may sound a bit worrisome to consider your dependent being outdoors, but Out-of-Home Respite Care services are a brilliant way for the dependents to have the change in their surroundings. Since the elderly patients are mostly confined to their homes for the physical or health issues that they are dealing with, Outdoor Respite Care Facilities provide them with an opportunity to be closer to nature, experience new surroundings, connect with new people and find themselves the cognitive and the emotional stimulation they desperately need!

You can have your loved ones stay in an out-of-home, long-term care facility for almost two months. Although the dependent is facilitated with all the personal needs and the nursing care it requires. The family needs to pay for the accommodations, which include the cost of the room and the facilities. For your dependent to be considered eligible for this type of Respite Care, the caretaker must:

  • be away for more than a day
  • be admitted in a hospital, or
  • be having a contagious health issue that prevents them from providing the necessary care

Respite Care in Birmingham – Who to Trust?

If you are living in Birmingham, UK, chances are that your medical insurances must be covering your medical expenses pretty well! While you must not be concerned about the cost associated with sorting out the regular medical expenses, the cost to appointing Respite Care in Birmingham are generally not included by the medical insurance providers. While the price accompanying the services is usually very high, it can get a bit hefty for people to figure out the trusted names. Hence, to help you find out the FINEST facilities for Respite Care in Birmingham in the most reasonable rates, the following list has been prepared after thorough research:

  1. Care 4U:

Being the leading home care services provider all over Birmingham, Care 4U is regarded as one of the most excellent facilities to provide extensive care to individuals at the ease of their homes. The types of services that Care 4U surpasses in producing are as follows:

 

  1. Evergreen Care Home:

Evergreen is yet another leading name when it comes to providing high-quality home care and daycare services for the elderlies. The company is equipped with a highly trained staff that knows how to get the job well done. The services that they provide are as follows:

  • Day Care Services
  • Residential Services
  1. Bourn View Care Homes:

These are the finest private home care services that are renowned across the Midlands. The services they provide are as follows:

  • Dementia Care
  • Nursing Care
  • Residential Care
  • Assisted Living
  • Respite Care

Companionship For The Old And Disabled – A Need, A Service

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How would you define companionship?

Would you describe it as something round the clock, or more limited to certain times of the day?

Is rapport necessary?

Yes, it’s difficult to describe companionship but one thing is certain—it is necessary. As human beings, we have a constant need to feel validated, loved, or close. Irrespective of our identities as social outcasts or whatever, we still have a continuous need to feel belonged.

Understanding Companionship

Friendship or fellowship – the feeling of togetherness is essentially how many people would define companionship. It is a vital connection that we feel with someone, which manifests itself as a feeling of being wanted and needed.

If you have a companion, you most likely enjoy their company and want to spend time with them. Understandably, it is a basic human need, and when these needs are not fulfilled, it can cause emotional disturbances.

Companionship as we age

While established that companionship is necessary at every stage of life, it becomes increasingly significant as we grow older. Hence, the elderly are often most likely to want and to desire someone to be around.

In retrospect, they’re at the age where people around them are going way too fast for their speed. For them to catch up to anyone, someone would have to slow down. Do people tend to slow down?

Added to this is the fact that the elderly go through several problems such as illnesses or loss of mobility attributed to their age.

Older people often suffer from loneliness for a variety of reasons. They might have lost their spouses, they could live by themselves, their families could be far away, or they might have mobility issues, hindering them from getting out and about.

Statistics indicate that almost three-quarters of the elderly in the United Kingdom feel lonely.

Companionship for the ill

Normal is a word often used in association with independence. Hence, if we recognize someone, as usual, we tend to talk about their ability to be able to be self-sufficient.

This has caused a considerable disparity. The assertion has led to a gap between our vision of normalcy and the feelings of it. For example, illness is just as normal as the next guy without the association of independence in most cases.

Hence, similar to the elderly, the ill would also require someone to reduce their speed and allow them to catch up to them for them to create feelings of companionship.

How can you help?

For starters, recognize the fact that the person living with a disability or the elderly have the same basic needs, but different ways to attain them. It doesn’t make them less human for not being able to get dressed by themselves. Similarly, it doesn’t make you a hero to help. This is fundamental decency that needs to be rendered for those who have trouble.

An excellent way to show compassion is to be empathetic in your approach. Sit down with the person in question and discuss these things to show that you care. For example, frame your questions in a way that doesn’t devalue them as impotent. Consider approaching them with statements such as ‘a situation such as yours,’ etc.

Furthermore, you can ensure that the said person has adequate support. It won’t just lift someone’s spirits by alleviating the stress that these things will be taken care of, but also helps someone living with a disability to feel supported. They are likely to feel cared for by those around them as it shows that others have taken an interest in their well-being.

Doing so would require that you assess their needs and situation accordingly as well as establish links that they may have such as family, friends, or caregivers who may help them acquire those needs. Note that ensuring the basic needs of daily living are accounted for and looked after is pivotal to enhancing life for a person with a disability.

A project of Helping Hands Birmingham, Care for You offers dedicated and trained employees that will provide those that are less likely to go about their day by themselves with rendering services such as domestic help or companionship.