What is Senior Care for Elders?
Senior care, also called elderly care or elder care, covers a range of in-home care services for people who are age 65 and older in need of assistance with activities of daily living in the home. Everyday activities can be difficult when experiencing the challenges brought on by aging or living with chronic conditions. Even the simplest tasks such as meal preparation, grocery shopping, or tidying up around the home can become taxing to complete.
The exact type of care that is needed depends on the type of assistance required and challenges you and your loved one may be currently facing, such as scheduling, distance, and physical limitations. Providing elder care for the senior in your life can help them re-engage with activities, family, and friends as they age, leading to improved well-being and a renewed sense of independence!
Senior Care Services
Aging can sometimes be difficult for your loved one and you and your family. The wide array of mixed emotions–guilt, stress, confusion, frustration–you’re feeling is common, and your local Emerald CareGivers is here to help make sense of it all. Our local team of professional caregivers can give you the peace of mind you’ve been missing, all while doing everything they can to ensure the comfort and safety of your elder loved one.
Types of In-Home Care for Elders
In-home care offers impactful one-on-one engagement for seniors. While assisted living communities and nursing homes provide reliable care, many people prefer to age in their existing home. At Emerald CareGivers, our team helps seniors age in place around familiar surroundings.
We offer a large variety of specialty senior care services that are tailored to your needs:
Companion Care
Social isolation can lead to chronic loneliness, noticed significantly more often in the elderly. A cornerstone of our senior care services is companion care. Caregivers engage with their clients with friendly conversation, learn more about them, and participate in their favorite hobbies or activities. This helps your loved one stay involved, feel appreciated, and remain connected.
After Hospital Care
The transition from a facility back home can be challenging for seniors, not to mention critical to their health. This transition needs to be handled with compassion and person-centered care. A Emerald Caregivers team can help ensure the discharge plan is followed and the transition – and care after that – goes as smoothly as possible for the well-being of your loved one.
Personal Care
Caregivers assist with any day-to-day personal care needs that may have or will become challenging to perform for people who are living with chronic conditions or in advanced age. A highly qualified team is here to help your senior remain independent while still providing help with personal care tasks, such as:
- Grooming and bathing assistance
- Bathroom assistance and other personal hygiene
- Ambulation and mobility assistance
24-Hour Care
To ensure the safety of your aging loved one and the peace of mind of you and your family, 24-hour care may be the best option. This is completed via a team of caregivers scheduled throughout the entire day or possibly a single live-in caregiver in some locations. This type of care will be tailored to meet your needs and ensure someone is on standby in-home for your loved one or family around the clock.
Respite Care
Caring for a loved one is very rewarding but doesn’t go without its demands. While it’s often overlooked, Emerald CareGivers understands the importance of the health and well-being of family caregivers. Whether you’re a son, daughter, spouse, other family member or friend – each caregiving team provides the relief you need to take a well-deserved break to rest and recharge.
Chronic Condition Care
Caring for and living with chronic disease, conditions, and the challenges that come with it can be overwhelming. We create comprehensive in-home chronic condition care for elders, focusing on more than just a person’s condition. Each caregiver is qualified and receives training in specialty chronic condition care. Emerald CareGivers will help your family and loved one establish a plan of care to assist with the specific condition and the hardships presented.
Dementia Care
While dementia presents several challenges related to daily tasks and cognitive function, Emerald CareGivers strives to create care plans that focus on your loved one’s current abilities instead of what may be declining.
Elder dementia care focuses on promoting positive well-being, continually tailored to meet any needs as the condition progresses.
After Surgery Care
Emerald CareGivers provides after-surgery care to help your loved one return back to health in the comfort of their home. The transition from the hospital back home is crucial to seniors’ well-being, so care plans will reflect the discharge instructions created by medical professionals. A caregiver can help to reduce the risk of falls, provide medication reminders, all while proving to be reliable and compassionate.
Providing In-Home Care and In-Home Health Care for Seniors
Emerald CareGivers was founded on making sure individuals receive the care they need in the surroundings they love. Age shouldn’t define your quality of life, and a Emerald CareGivers team is here for seniors who need assistance to live in their homes and get the exact care they need to do so.
Key Differences Between In-Home Care and In-Home Health Care
While in-home care and in-home health care are both completed in the comfort of the client’s home and are often used together to establish the most comprehensive elder care plan possible, they present several differences:
In-Home Care
The majority of in-home senior care focuses on non-medical services, including completing personal care tasks such as bathing, transportation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, meal preparation, companionship, and other responsibilities to ensure seniors’ well-being.
In-Home Health Care
In-home senior health care focuses on medical-related services in a home setting. The type of in-home health care includes in-home visits from physical therapists, monitoring complicated medical conditions, routine wound care, IV assistance, pain management, and other medical functions, along with the help of daily personal care tasks like personal hygiene and dressing.
Signs That It May Be Time for In-Home Care
While your parent, aging spouse, or other senior loved one is living at home fully independent, there may come a day where extra help around the home is needed from a professional caregiver. To know when it may be time to consider in-home care, be sure to look out for these common sign:
Worsening Health Issues
If a health condition has gotten worse, it may be time to consider in-home care. Chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, dementia, and heart disease worsen with age, so it’s vital to establish in-home care as soon as it is needed. Doing so can help make the transition into care easier and ensure they can continue living at home as long as possible.
Increase in Number of Falls or Accidents
Seniors who are at risk of falling, have fallen recently, or are at risk for accidents will benefit from having an in-home caregiver. Having someone there in case an emergency occurs, ensures your loved one can get help quickly. This could decrease the chances of accidents happening while performing daily actions.
Changes in Behavior
Aging, the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic conditions can cause changes in behavior over time. The most common behavioral changes noticed in elders include:
- Sudden outbursts
- Repeated requests
- Change in sleep patterns
- Increased expressions of aggression
- Wandering
- Anxiety and depression
- Lack of interest in things
Unhealthy or Unusual Diets
Another sign that your aging loved one may need in-home care is developing unhealthy eating habits or strange diets. This can include eating food that they wouldn’t normally eat and adding processed and unhealthy food into their diets. An in-home caregiver can help do the grocery shopping, weekly meal planning, and nightly meal prep needed to ensure a nutritious diet for your loved one.
Neglect of the Home
If the home of your loved one is being neglected, either in the form of messes not being cleaned up, laundry and typical tasks being ignored, or general untidiness, it can be a sign that they are struggling and need support. Many conditions associated with aging can make performing housework difficult, and seniors may be too shy or prideful to ask for help. Having a caregiver help take care of the home can help them regain their independence and ensure they live in a safe and healthy environment.
A Decline in Hygiene and Grooming
Often, cognitive decline can cause the elderly to have some difficulty in completing daily personal care tasks, including bathing, brushing their teeth, and properly grooming. If your aging loved one has unusual body odor, unkempt hair, or is experiencing other signs of poor hygiene, an at-home caregiver could provide the extra motivation, reminder, and assistance needed to maintain their personal hygiene.
Increased Forgetfulness
Memory loss is a common occurrence in aging adults. Forgetting a few things here and there may seem like nothing at the time, but asking the same question repeatedly, not remembering everyday things, or constantly losing things in the home can mean a decline in cognitive health. When this occurs, they should see their health care provider and after receiving a definitive diagnosis, in-home care should strongly be considered.
Decreased Mobility
Getting around the house easily is something we might all take for granted. If your loved one is having trouble going from room to room or simply getting to the bathroom, even with the help of a walker, in-home care may be needed to decrease the chance of falls and other accidents around the home.
Loss of Interest in Activities and Hobbies
Anhedonia, or losing interest in activities or hobbies once enjoyed, is a common and often overlooked mental health condition the elderly often suffers from. This loss of interest can lead to the withdrawal from social activities, not maintaining personal relationships, and even gaining negative feelings towards themselves, their inner circle, and the overall world. Our empathic caregivers look to help seniors regain their love for life, establishing a regular routine, engaging in friendly conversation, participating in hobbies once enjoyed, and focusing on life’s positives.
In-Home Care for Myself or a Loved One
Finding nearby in-home care for yourself or your loved one can be intimidating, especially if you are an elder on your own. A team of professional caregivers, friendly support staff, and the testimonials of countless happy families are here to show you that Homewatch CareGivers is the leader in senior and elder care. Whether you’re looking for help caring for yourself, your spouse, or your parent, your Homewatch CareGivers team is here with the best in-home caregiving plan.
Care for Myself
If you’re not ready for traditional nursing homes or other assisted living communities and want to stay at home around the things you love, Homewatch CareGivers provides in-home care to help make that possible. Like most care decisions, it can be a difficult step to take, but one that will only benefit you and your family in the future. Plans are forever customizable, allowing caregivers to tailor things specifically to your needs as they change.
Care for My Spouse
Seeing a spouse age and come face to face with the complications that come along with it can be difficult. Caregiving provides your loved one with the care they need and deserve right in the comfort of their own home and provides the support you need to rest and take time for yourself. You’ll have the ultimate peace of mind knowing your loved one is being taken care of by compassionate, professional caregivers.
Care for My Parent
Just as our parents took care of us, there will come a day that you might need to care for them. If your parent is elderly and searching for in-home care, whether to address a specific condition or daily personal care tasks, Homewatch CareGivers helps you find the best match. Our team hopes to provide you the continued support you need to make sure your parent has help when needed and give you the ability to live your own life and continue to just be their child.
Contact Our Team to Learn More About Our In-Home Elder & Senior Care Services Today!