Caring for the Elderly at Home, What Is Elder Home Care?
Home care is the physical and mental care for the elderly, physically or mentally handicapped person or persons in their own home or home environment. Caring for elderly parents, children, any relative or even a friend can be a rewarding job. It can also be frustrating, nerve-racking, and depressing.
When you think you are ready to take on caring for elderly parents at home jobs, here are some tips on being prepared mentally, physically, and financially.
Preparing Mentally
If your parents are physically ill, prepare to take over their care. Parents are the hardest ones to take care of. They don’t like their own children taking charge. But you will now have to think as if you are the parent.
You will have to make them understand that you are there to help them in any way that you can. You are not taking away their independence, you are just helping out until they get better.
Elderly parents are very set in their ways and it is very hard for them to understand that now they will need their children or other family members to care for them at home. If they are mentally capable, then you must let them handle everything that can be done with the mind.
Let them do everything they can to keep the mind actively working and let them make as many of their own decisions as possible. This will also help to ease some of your mental stress.
Once you start home care for someone you tend to lose a part of your own personal life. Try to keep your life and their life in two separate places as best as you can. If they are not mentally capable then you will have to help with both the physical and mental aspects of their daily lives.
Preparing Physically
Are you strong of mind and strong of the body? Taking care of someone who has had a stroke, or heart attack or is just physically unable to “care for the elderly parents at home” for themselves will take a physically strong person in case they have to be lifted.
Getting them out of bed, into bed, getting them showered, dressed and undressed, shaved, or just getting them walking will be a physical strain on you.
There are devices that can be used to get them up, wheelchairs and walkers to help them to get around, but you will have to learn to use them properly. You will have to learn to lift, how pivot, and how walk them.
If you are not healthy yourself or not physically strong enough to do this, then please get outside assistance, such as a physical therapist or occupational therapist to teach you the correct way to do the physical aspect of care.
Preparing Financially
Most elderly persons are on a fixed income and can not afford to pay for anything extra that is not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or Insurance. A lot of things they might need could be covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
If it is covered by Insurance there could be a co-pay, which may be something they cannot afford and so this expense might fall on you.
They might need something for a special diet, another expense for you. They also might need Depends or extra bandages for a wound that might not be covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or Insurance.
Even the smallest of expenses adds up in the course of an illness. If you are a working person, can you afford to quit your job to care for this elderly person?
You could probably take a leave of absence from your job but most leaves of this sort are not paid. Say you take a leave of absence but the person you are caring for is not better and your leave is over.
Time to check other means of help to care for this person. Fortunately, there are a number of financial assistance programs that can help to care for the elderly at home. So that’s how to properly care for the elderly at home. I hope the above tips will inspire you.
