Senior home care simply refers to care provided for the aged, disabled persons, persons recovering from surgery or are critically ill, in their homes. It is provided for family members who do not want to go and live in residential care communities or health care facilities but choose to remain in the comfort of their own homes as they are already familiar with the environment. Home care services may include health care services such as professional respiratory and occupational therapists, licensed nurses, medical social workers, physicians, etc.; or personal care such as assistance with daily activities like bathing, eating or getting dressed; cooking, help with laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.
Home care generally comes in two forms: informal homecare and formal homecare. Informal homecare is given when a person needing help is cared for by family members, friends, and neighbours mostly for free. Formal homecare is care provided by professional senior home caregivers and home health care companies and is usually paid for. These companies have professional teams which may include occupational therapists, licensed practical nurses or assistant nurses, social workers, speech-language pathologists, respiratory therapists, personal care aides, physicians, etc. that help cater to the needs of clients.
How do I Know Home Care Is the Right Choice for Me?
Home care may be the right choice for you if you have trouble getting around or carrying out Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) like eating, bathing, using the toilet, cleaning the home, preparing meals or even getting dressed. You may need a care provider if you have just undergone a surgery and have intravenous medications to take, wounds that require cleaning or still require monitoring. You may consider in home care if your medical condition is one that requires monitoring or you need care and emotional support in dealing with a terminal illness.
How to Choose Home Care Providers
Whether you are choosing a healthcare provider for the first time or you want to change your current home care provider you can follow the steps below:
- Identify your needs and the level of assistance you require, both medical and non-medical and for how long you’ll need this assistance.
- Find available licensed providers, check the services they offer, choose the ones that suit your needs and contact them.
- Research how long they’ve been functioning in your community and if possible, get previous client feedbacks on their services.
- Ask questions about their core values, policies and procedures, their method of staffing, the level of training of their medical and non-medical caregivers, if drug screenings and background checks were done as part of the hiring process, and staff training programs, etc.
- Negotiate availability, hours of care per day or availability on weekends; communication methods, etc.
- Carefully go through their pricing structure to choose the one that best fit your budget. Most home care providers offer flexible packages tailored to suit the individual client needs. Find out any extra charges, plan review frequency or exit fees.
Feeling confused about choosing a Roseville home care providers? We’ll be glad to help. Contact us today on (916) 993-6298 to get a free quote.