How Can Families Navigate the Change to Home Care Assistance More Easily?
November 21, 2024
Learning to rely on home care assistance can be a big adjustment for seniors and their families. Many family caregivers spend so much time and energy trying to do everything on their own and it’s a different experience altogether to suddenly have some help. For seniors, that adjustment can be even bigger. There’s a lot involved in accepting even a little bit of extra assistance.
Get to Know What Home Care Does and Doesn’t Do
Sometimes seniors resist the idea of working with elder care services because they think that these services do things that aren’t part of their area of expertise. Home care can help seniors with household tasks, meal preparation, transportation, and personal care tasks. They also offer companionship and help seniors stay on track with their goals. They don’t offer medical assistance, though, and they aren’t there to boss seniors around or tell them what to do.
Open Up the Lines of Communication
Talking about what seniors need and how family caregivers could benefit from having help is a great way to open up the dialogue about home care. When seniors can express their feelings and know that they’re going to be heard, they’re less likely to dig in their heels just because they can. This can all be a collaborative process where everyone works together, but this requires open communication.
Look for Ways to Build Trust
Every relationship relies on building trust. In the beginning, seniors may not fully understand how home care assistance supports them. As they experience consistent care and home care providers form personal connections with seniors, the relationship gradually builds and evolves. Caregivers get to know the seniors they’re helping, which allows them to find new ways to make them more comfortable.
Emphasize the Positive
Highlighting benefits and focusing on positive factors of home care assistance does a lot to boost optimism for seniors. When seniors are facing health and other challenges, optimism can be in startlingly short supply. Home care helps seniors to be safer at home, get the companionship they need, and have help with daily tasks. These benefits directly enhance their quality of life and allow seniors to stay independent and remain at home.
Monitor What Is Working and What Isn’t
Life is full of ups and downs. Checking in with seniors regularly about what is working and what isn’t ensures that home care assistance still meets their needs. These opportunities to talk about what is going on help seniors to continue to be involved in their own care, too. That’s an important part of maintaining autonomy.
Making the move to hire home care assistance is a big transition for families. Keeping the focus on meeting seniors’ needs as fully as possible is a great start. It’s equally important to stay on top of whether those needs are changing and how to keep meeting them. Home care experts remove a lot of the guesswork for family caregivers and help them foster a compassionate and supportive space for the seniors they love.
If you or your loved one is looking for Home Care Assistance in Los Gatos, CA, please call Familiar Surroundings Home Care.
Santa Clara County: (408) 979-9990
San Mateo County: (650) 353-9777
Santa Cruz County: (831) 480-3990