Health

10 Things to Look for Before Choosing the Best Home Care Assistance

April 19, 2022 By Administrator

What Should I Look for When Choosing Home Health Care?

Guest Post by Nicholas Rubright

As your parent or loved one gets older, you may notice signs that they need home care assistance. Maybe they are having memory problems, or they are no longer able to keep up with day to day tasks like housekeeping, bathing, and preparing meals. These are all good indicators that your loved one could use some extra help. Choosing a home care assistant can be challenging. You want someone who gives the best assistance possible for your loved one, but it can be difficult to know if you are making the correct choice for them.

Here are 10 things to look for before you make a decision.

1. Reviews and References

Some companies may sound good on paper, but it is important to check for references. Gather a list of companies in your area and visit each website. Read the reviews and patient testimonials.

Ask your family and friends, neighbors, coworkers, an elder law attorney, or anyone you trust if they have experience with a loved one receiving care from the agencies you’re considering—and what their experiences have been like.

If you are worried about the legitimacy of the reviews, you can check if they are accurate with the Better Business Bureau or with a third-party website. You can even use a plagiarism checker to see if the same review has been posted on multiple sites.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

2. Care Certification and Licenses

Before you hire a company, it’s important to make sure that each staff member and the company are licensed. Read about your state’s specific requirements and double check that the agencies are legitimate and regularly monitored.

Typically, only certified licensed personnel are allowed to administer medications. This includes everything from prescription painkillers to CBD oil, like nurses can administer.

3. Screening Procedures

Who exactly is taking care of your loved one? How do they vet potential caregivers? You want to check if the agencies perform thorough background checks on their caretakers, including local and national criminal records, before you make a decision on an agency.

Ask if they conduct drug screening, and how often they screen current caretakers.

A good caretaker should be compassionate, trustworthy, attentive to your loved one’s needs, patient, and respectful.

4. Caregiver Training

Proper training is a necessity for adequate care. Some states require more hours of training than others for caregivers to receive certification. Look up what the requirements are for your state, ask them questions to check their knowledge, and make sure their caregivers are able to provide first aid, CPR, and other treatments related to your loved one’s health.

The caregivers should be able to assist with walking and transferring from bed to wheelchair, assisting with using the toilet and incontinence care, and providing medication reminders.

They should give status reports to you and your family regularly. If they fail to do these things, it can be considered elder neglect. Improving your loved one’s home by removing clutter and perhaps replacing heavy decor that may fall with custom tapestries or posters may also help them move around the house freely when a caregiver isn’t available.

5. Replacement Caretaker Options and Procedures

Your loved one will most likely require more than one caregiver to assist them, especially if they require assistance around the clock. The company that you choose should have a replacement procedure in place to cover their employees’ vacations and work-hour limitations.

At night when your loved one needs to rest, if they are not receiving 24-hour care, they are likely to be alone. They may get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom or get a glass of water, putting them at risk for falls or other accidents.

Having a medical alert necklace or bracelet can be useful to ensure they get immediate care if an accident occurs.

6. Caregiver Supervision

You may want to ask how they will supervise the caregivers assigned to your loved one to prevent the possibility of elder abuse. Some agencies may use cameras, or they may have a trained nurse supervising the visits.

Once you choose an agency, make sure you regularly check in with your loved one to make sure they feel safe and are satisfied with the care they are receiving.

7. Financial Planning

COVID-19 has affected many things and devastated so many families. It has especially affected the cost of in-home care and assisted living.

According to this survey, the median annual cost of in-home care in the U.S. in 2020 was $54,912 for a home health aide and $53,768 for a homemaker. The lowest hourly rate for a home health aide was $17 in Louisiana, and the highest was $33 in Minnesota.

It can be hard to figure out how to afford proper care for your loved one, but there are ways to find financial assistance for long-term care. Learning finance basics on your own will also help you make a more informed decision and help you with your own retirement plans.

8. Caregiver Selection

It can be hard to talk about preferences when it comes to caregivers, but they are necessary to ensure your loved one’s home care experience is a good one. They should provide caregivers who have experience handling specific conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Your loved one may be more comfortable with a caregiver of a specific gender, or they might need someone who speaks a particular language or is knowledgeable about their culture.

9. COVID-19 Precautions

With COVID being a persistent presence in our lives and seniors being at an increased risk of complications or dying from COVID-19, ask what health and safety measures are in place to protect your loved one.

Some methods might include daily health screenings to check for fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, vomiting, or chills, and whether the caregivers have had exposure to anyone who has tested positive with the disease.

You should also inquire on how they handle caring for elders showing symptoms of COVID, or elders who are confirmed to have COVID.

10. Interview the Agencies

Once you have narrowed down the options to three agencies, give them a call and set up in-person interviews to cover any further questions or concerns you may have. This will ease any second thoughts and help you make the best choice going forward.

Home Improvement & Safety for Seniors

October 21, 2019 By Administrator

It’s wonderful that there’s so much focus these days on senior safety. I recently had two entries to my Webgrammar health page, and I want to give you these links, because they are both done so professionally and thoroughly. I could go on and on, but they will speak for themselves.

Enjoy!

The Do’s and Don’ts of Medication Management

October 7, 2019 By Administrator

The Do’s and Don’ts of Medication Management

By SingleCare

Being diagnosed with a health condition (be it a chronic illness, disability, or even a temporary sickness) can be a hard pill to swallow. A single health condition could require multiple medications ranging from prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicine to vitamins or supplements. If you’re part of the 66% of older adults in America who have been diagnosed with multiple health conditions, your list of medications could double or triple. The following is a list of do’s and don’ts that you should consider in order to streamline your medication regimen.

Don’t go it alone. It’s normal to feel a bit helpless when you receive a diagnosis of a health condition. However, feelings of isolation can be avoided by building a strong healthcare team. Doctors and pharmacists will be able to provide unbiased, professional medical advice when you have questions about treatment. Your family and friends can offer moral support. And your caregiver can lend a helping hand whenever you need it most. All you have to do is ask for help.

Do adjust your mindset. Treatment can be frustrating at times, especially among seniors who recall a much shorter road to recovery in their past. It’s important to understand that when our bodies change and age, so does our response to treatment and medication. What was once an effective medication in the past may no longer work as well, as quickly, or in conjunction with other medications that you are taking now.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions. It’s critical to get answers from your doctor when you don’t understand something. The medical field is full of jargon and, after all, there is no such thing as a bad question when it comes to good health. You should also feel empowered to provide candid feedback if something doesn’t feel quite right. Your doctor may need to adjust the dosage of a medication or take you off of it altogether.

Perhaps the most important yet often overlooked question to ask your doctor is whether there are any medications that you can stop taking. Doctors are sometimes apt to add medications to a treatment plan without taking any away. Less is more when it comes to medication management.

Do read prescription labels. First, verify that your patient information and the prescription information is correct. Then, read all of the instructions for taking the medication as well as prescription warnings. Jot down the drug names, strengths, and dosages all on one piece of paper and post it in a central location at home so you can keep track of what to take when.

You’ll also find contact information for your pharmacy and doctor on the prescription label in case you have any questions once you get home. If you’re completely overwhelmed, you can also schedule a medication review with a pharmacist. Ask your caregiver to come along to take notes for you so you can give the pharmacist your undivided attention.

Don’t underestimate the power of organization. What if you forget a dose? What if you accidentally take too much? These can be dangerous mistakes. You can streamline medication adherence by creating a medication schedule. Here, you’ll list each medication, which days of the week you need to take it and at what time, and how much of the medication to take. In addition to a schedule, you can set an alarm to notify you when it’s time to take your medicine.

In addition to more health education guides, you can download and print a free medication schedule on SingleCare.

What I’ve learned through the decluttering process

April 30, 2019 By Administrator

Guest post by Becky Blanton:

It’s a VERY intense and personal experience. It’s not just “getting rid of stuff,” it’s readjusting – a hard reset – of your life, values, lifestyle, and belief system. It doesn’t come easy to most of us (ANY of us?) so that’s why people don’t finish. It’s emotionally painful at times. It reminds us of dreams we’ll never see come to fruition, friendships, relationships, lifestyles, friendships and work that will never be more than hopes, not reality.

Clutter does NOT serve us. It demeans us. It cheapens us. It negatively impacts our lifestyle. I’m reminded of the story about how hunters trap and enslave monkeys. They put a banana in a jar and leave it out. The monkey will reach into the jar, grab the banana, then not let go when the hunters approach. It’s willing to hold onto the banana and give up its freedom. We hold onto STUFF the same way a monkey hangs onto that banana. The world is full of banana trees and fresh fruit. Let the piece in the jar (storage unit, closet, garage, attic, crawl space) go and then go in search of the really good, abundant fruit that’s waiting for you.

Clutter does NOT serve us. It demeans us. It cheapens us. It negatively impacts our lifestyle.

Decluttering is about reorganizing our priorities and values. You can’t hang on to worthless stuff you never use in hopes that “someday” you MIGHT need it.

I don’t know that I would have undertaken this process/challenge if I HAD known all this, but I can’t say it would have deterred me either.

When you are clutter-free you are also free to do other things with your life – like explore, travel, pursue a new job or interest. Life opens up when we get rid of the things blocking our way. I’m soooo CLOSE to being done, but so happy with exactly where I am right now. I’ve been getting rid of flaky friends, people whose “friendships” don’t serve me, and clients who are a waste of my time, money, energy and resources. It’s a different way of looking at my life for sure.

I’ve learned who my real friends are, and who only wants me for my time, experience, money, help and not because they want a relationship. For those who couldn’t be here for me when I needed them, don’t expect me to be there for you when the time comes either.

Learn more about Becky Blanton at www.BeckyBlanton.com