Do you want to stay in your home but need some occasional help?
This is a question asked by nearly every one of our customers! Senior home care may be the answer!
For many seniors, the need starts when they have a doctor's appointment or maybe an MRI appointment but don't want to drive themselves due to the stress of the procedure. Of course, it just happens that their children are out of town unexpectedly when its time for the appointment.
What to do? Take a taxi? The cabbie won't wait for you and it can take a very long time to get another taxi in an unknown place. How about a bus? Well...you are on your own to figure out the schedule, walk to the stop, and wait for the bus in whatever weather the day brings. Maybe Senior transit? Again, an unknown and often with limited resources and availability.
Often, clients turn to us at Seniors Helping Seniors for this type of situation. Our in-home care giver will drive you to the appointment, wait for you, and then be sure you get safely back into your home when done. After this experience, it often becomes easier to ask for a little help with other chores around the house.
While a recent study showed that over 90% of seniors want to remain in their homes, they will face some challenges over time. At the simplest level, the house may not be as accommodating as it once was. Let's face it, all those steps used to be exercise... now they are a chore.
The very first step is to decide to seek senior home care. Often the situations described above help make that decision easy.
Once you have made that decision, there are 10 things we recommend that you ask about when hiring a senior home care agency:
- Health Care Needs
- Do you accommodate special dietary restrictions?
- Do your caregivers have experience supporting memory-impaired clients?
- Flexibility of Help Provided
- What kinds of senior home care tasks and chores can my loved one get help with?
- Can caregivers run errands for me?
- Cultural Fit
- Do you have a senior home care provider who matches my dad's personal preferences (e.g., a male who is a veteran)?
- Transportation
- How will the caregiver drive my mom to her appointments? Do you provide a vehicle? Can he drive my mom’s car?
- Is transportation covered by insurance?
- Insurance & Financial Security
- Are your caregivers insured and bonded?
- Do you conduct background checks on in-home care employees?
- Do you provide liability and worker’s compensation insurance?
- Communication
- Do you have in-home care providers who speak my parent’s native language?
- Scheduling and Availability
- When can I schedule senior home care visits? Are services available at night or on the weekends?
- Is there a minimum number of hours I can schedule?
- Will I always have the same care provider?
- If the care provider becomes sick, will there be a backup?
- Supervision of Care
- How do you supervise in-home care services?
- Quality of Care
- How do you track and monitor the quality of my mom’s care?
- If I have a problem with a care provider, who would I contact?
- Credentials
- What are the qualifications of the in-home care staff members who provide hands-on care?
For more information on in-home care, check out The Aging in Place Initiative.
Seniors Helping Seniors of Montco provides senior home care & assisted living care in your home in Northern Chester, Western Montgomery County, and Upper Bucks County, PA. For more information, call 877-877-7350 or email daratrout@heart4helpingseniors.com