Making Home Care Simple
Author
Thomas Wiest
CEO, Aspirience Home Care
Many people start needing care earlier on than we think to safely live at home. Not just seniors but also adults, young adults and most importantly, children. Their adult children can only do so much to directly help out because they work, have their own families and often live out of town.
When the time comes, what decisions should they consider?
Whether the need for care arrangements is sudden (a stroke, broken leg from a car accident, etc.) or gradual (dementia, autism in a child, etc.), the adult children/parents need to decide what their roles will be as much as possible. How will they help out on a day-to-day basis? What outside resources are needed? How will they oversee and evaluate the care?
That might sound simple, but it usually is difficult and stressful for several reasons: The senior parent requiring care may resist family or outside help; the adult children might not agree on an overall plan and their respective roles; they usually have no experience in making such decisions; and their busy lives allow limited time for any of this.
If there is more than one adult child, discussion and agreement of roles can prevent contention and bitterness. We have worked with family caregivers who neither asked for nor received offers of help from siblings. When more than one pitches in, the roles need to be collaborative, not necessarily equal.
It helps to develop a list that may include such tasks as arranging physical rehabilitation, checking in and monitoring medications, accompanying the parent or child to medical appointments, keeping the home stocked with food and supplies and preparing bills to be paid.
Usually, the list includes items that require outside resources; for example, arranging paid home care to assist with such activities as bathing, dressing, toileting, meals and safely moving about the home.
But the family might not be able to effectively make such decisions and spend a lot of time directly assisting the parent and arranging and overseeing outside services due to lack of available time or to living at a distance from the person needed care. There are approximately 5 million long-distance caregivers in the United States. Averaging 450 miles distance from their parents, or the person they are responsible of caring for. They often miss work, spend an average of nearly $400 per month on travel and other out-of-pocket expenses and feel stressed and worried.
We suggest long-distance family caregivers recognize what they can do from afar (scheduling appointments, paying bills, etc.) but, also rely on a local network of relatives, friends, neighbors and a reputable home care provider for checking in, reporting and peace of mind assistance.
We also recommend considering the help of a professional care manager (usually a nurse or social worker) who can assess the parent’s care needs and make recommendations, make and oversee care arrangements, provide medical advocacy and monitoring and report regularly to the family. A care manager can help overwhelmed local family caregivers in the same ways. Aspirience has an on site staff that can oversee all client care plans. Nothing gets overlooked.
Family caregivers generously jump in to help with care, sometimes with little thanks or support. They almost always experience stress and depression, and sometimes health problems due to lack of self-care.
Our advice is to avoid the “I can do it myself” syndrome by asking for help from your family and personal support system, and by finding outside information, support and service resources.
It’s good to know, Aspirience Home Care can help assist you in many ways with your home care needs, anywhere, anytime.