As a family caregiver, you probably spend a good bit of time wondering if your senior needs more care or a different type of care than she has in place. One option, 24-hour home care, might seem like too much for her, but is it really? There are plenty of situations that might benefit from this type of care.
Help Around the Clock
The first hurdle in understanding whether this type of care is right for your senior or not is to get to know what it is. This type of care means that there is someone there with your elderly family member at all hours of the day. There might be several different caregivers taking various shifts, but there will be someone there with your senior at all times. That can be tremendously reassuring, both for you and for your elderly family member.
Assistance with Daily Tasks
One reason your senior might want help from 24-hour home care professionals is that she needs help with daily tasks. These types of tasks can cover a lot of ground, too. If your senior needs help with eating, for instance, she might want to have help with cooking her meals, making sure that her fridge is stocked, and even helping with actually eating her meal. Other types of tasks that could require this type of day and night help can involve personal care tasks, like getting dressed and transferring from bed to a chair, and even assistance with mobility.
Support for Disabled Seniors
If your elderly family member is disabled, she may need a lot of additional help from elder care professionals around the clock. Some of the disabilities that your senior might find limiting her life could involve trouble with mobility or cognitive changes, like dementia. When there is someone there with your senior every day, all day, she’s got help as soon as she needs it. During the times when she doesn’t need help, caregivers aren’t trying to do everything for her. She’ll only have the help she needs. In the ways she can still be independent, she’s able to maintain that independence.
Help with Chronic Illness
Chronic illnesses can take a serious toll on your senior’s health and well-being. Battling COPD or heart disease each day takes a lot out of your elderly family member. When home care professionals are there with her, they are able to handle tasks that have become more of a challenge for her. That allows her to rest and do what she can when she can. During times when your elderly family member is less able to do things for herself, she has help. There’s also the peace of mind that you get knowing that your senior has someone there with her if she runs into any sort of problem.
There are lots of other benefits to having someone there with your senior at all hours, especially if she has more difficulty overnight. In terms of determining when 24-hour home care is truly necessary, it helps to look closely at what your senior’s needs are and how those can best be met.
If you or an aging loved one is considering 24-hour home care in Plymouth, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.
