There is nothing wrong with turning to family and friends for support, especially when you are going through a difficult time. For an aging senior who is struggling following a major medical emergency, a loss of strength, after surgery, or while recovering from injuries sustained in an accident, the first people they often turn to are family. Home care providers, when provided through an agency that has experience supporting seniors during the most difficult times of life, are often better in the long run than family.
However, family might not always be the best choice, especially for that senior who wants to remain active, needs to get exercise, is advised by their doctor to put forth some physical effort in the recovery process, or who may want to pursue certain hobbies, activities, or other interests their loved ones might not understand or may consider potentially dangerous or harmful.
Hiring home care providers may be the best choice. This doesn’t, in any way, mean family should never support their loved ones, but when you are looking at the long-term aspect of recovery, the natural process of aging, the difficulties and challenges seniors face as they get older, and so much more, there is value to professional home care.
These are just three ways that home care may offer benefits that family caregivers can’t quite match, no matter their best intentions.
1. It can offer a routine.
Many family members and even close friends will avoid pushing their elderly loved one too hard, especially if it appears that they are straining themselves. They may also avoid pushing them to do things they are not “ready to get back to” just yet.
However, if a doctor has encouraged exercise, activity, and getting back into the normal routines of life, some seniors are going to avoid this. It is hard. It is going to be hard. A professional, seasoned home care aide often has several strategies that can help their clients develop new routines, reestablish previous ones, and feel empowered at the same time.
2. It may help improve safety.
Family and friends who have never supported an aging senior in this type of way before, may not know all of the various hazards that now exist. What may not have been dangerous before could be extremely harmful.
For example, the senior may have had no problem going up and down a couple of steps from the hallway to the kitchen or living room. Now, though, that is becoming difficult. What if they tried to do that when nobody was around, slipped, and fell? How long might they lay there with a broken ankle, hip, or other part of their body, unable to call for help?
With a home care aide there with them, somebody who can assist when they need to get up out of a chair, walk down the hall, go up and down stairs, or get some exercise by walking around the block.
3. It offers more consistency.
Many times, when family or friends offer to help an aging loved one, they have to do it around their main schedule, which usually consists of work or raising children. If family or friends are not able to stop by at the same time, what is the senior going to do? What if they have no idea when help will arrive?
They might be more prone to trying things without assistance. With home care coming at the same time each day as needed, that consistency means the senior knows when help is coming and they will more likely wait to do certain activities.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care Services in Dubois PA please get in touch with the caring staff at Quality Health Services. Call (814) 251-9044
Quality Health Services is a trusted non-medical senior care provider in Punxsutawney, Bellefonte, Jefferson, Brockway, Brookville, Clearfield, St Marys, Emporium, Philipsburg, and Dubois PA areas.
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