5 Ways Senior Personal Services Increase Quality of Life
When a parent cannot perform daily tasks such as bathing, changing, or using the toilet, a more experienced caregiver can help with senior personal services. These services allow seniors the opportunity to stay at home, providing a sense of independence.
What You Will Learn
When To Think About Personal Services Care
Sometimes parents refuse outside help and depend on family members for their care. However, when your parent can’t cook meals, tie their shoes, or manage their medication, it might be time to look for in-home care.
As a senior’s physical or mental capabilities diminish, daily care like hygiene might be too much for families to handle. Families need to consider home care once someone can no longer provide the most basic functions for themselves.
Many families are comfortable with providing help with cooking and mobility. But when it comes to personal services, are you ready to give that level of care for someone you’ve known your entire life?
Reasons Families Choose Home Care
There are a few reasons people choose home care. The biggest reason is that the primary caregiver is burned out and needs help. They have been working a job, being a parent, and now likely a caregiver.
Transitioning into personal care multiple times a day can be stressful, and they need help themselves. Burnout is the number one reason people call for help. They can no longer handle helping their parent in this way.
Families also use home care because they don’t want the awkwardness of helping a parent with personal care. Parents don’t want some of their last memories with their children to be related to personal hygiene.
Home health aides are professionals that have done this for years. Cleaning up, showering, and dressing a senior is within a home health aide’s expertise. They make the patient feel comfortable with personal care, avoiding the awkwardness of getting family members involved.
Time is also an issue. Providing care for someone on a short-term basis may be stressful, but only for a short time. The prospect of indefinitely caring for a person is daunting. Senior personal services help families manage for their parents after retirement.
5 Ways Personal Services Help Seniors
1) Bathing – Making sure someone is clean is very important to staying healthy.
2) Cosmetics – Though we may not think so, seniors want to look good. Having someone help them with makeup or haircuts can improve their self-esteem.
3) Dressing – Eventually, a loved one may not be flexible enough to put on their clothing and underwear. We can aid in this to make sure our patients are looking at their best every day!
4) Using the Toilet – Making sure someone is getting in and out of the bathroom safely is vital to self-care.
5) Monitoring Their Body – When a caregiver cleans and dresses a senior, they can inspect any concerns about their body. This monitoring can be vital to ensure small problems like skin tears do not develop in infections.
Key Takeaways
Senior personal services can help your family provide care by saving time, money, and stress. When performing simple tasks like tying shoes or making dinner, relatives can often overcome these obstacles. If your family requires services beyond this scope, it might be time to consider a home care agency.
Are you looking to improve the quality if life for yourself or a loved one with senior personal services?