The need for senior care can develop in one of two main ways. It either happens all of a sudden, such as would be the result of an injury or a sudden health crisis, like a stroke. Or, the need for care can arise as the result of a slow decline in mental or physical health, such as what we see occur when someone is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Both present issues that families must work on solving together if they want to give the best quality of life possible to their loved one, but both necessitate a very different type of care. Looking at these two types of need separately will help to give you a better idea of how you should approach your loved one’s unique needs.
It’s important to keep in mind that different needs call for different types and lengths of care. A sudden need, such as a broken bone from a fall, might only call for a few weeks worth of assistance. This is going to be different than if the problem is chronic or permanent, such as you would find when an individual suffers from Alzheimer’s or is permanently disabled. There is overlap in the causes of care, as you might have guessed. A permanent disability caused by a fall, for example, would fit into this category.
These differences are often subtle, and it’s important that you use a caregiving service that understands these subtleties. You should look for a caregiver that is part of a large service and is employed by them, rather than contracted through them. Although the differences might not seem important, they really are. They impact how care should be given, with what intensity, and the duration. A service that understands this is going to be far more beneficial to your family than one that does not.
There are other benefits of using an in-home care service, as well. For one, individual caregivers are typically not insured and they tend to not have the same intensive training that caregivers that are employed by a service have. Caregivers with a service will also have had a background check conducted before employment, depending on the company. This will help to ensure that a compassionate and loving caregiver is used, rather than someone looking to benefit themselves. These little things go a long way toward improving the quality of life that your elderly loved one has as the caregiver is not only better prepared for the specific things that they will need to look out for when on the job, but if something were to happen, there are safeguards in place to protect families. Again, these might seem like little things, but they all add up to very big things when looked at together.
The bottom line is that you want and deserve a caregiver that not only has the proper background, but also has an ability to provide the specific type of care that your loved one needs, along with a watchful eye so that changes can be made if necessary. At Paradise In-Home Care, our caregivers are trained to do just that.
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