Elder care has changed a lot over recent decades. It has progressed and evolved into something better. It was not too long ago that if a family determined than an elder member required care of some kind, they instantly began looking at nursing home and assisted living brochures. Back in the day, it was only natural for working families to place their elder members in facilities such as these where the care provided was more or less uniform. Thankfully, today, we can access a far greater range of elder care services.
Assisted Living
Assisted living communities still exist today. They might be called senior care facilities, retirement, communities, nursing homes, or whatever; but they’re still around. And generally, they’re better than they used to be. Different communities cater to different seniors with different needs. But they all still have one major flaw: you have to move out of your home to go there. Many seniors don’t want to leave their homes where they’ve been happily living for years, even decades. So what are their options?
In-Home Elder Care Services
There now exists a plethora of elder care services that can be provided to seniors right in the comfort of their very own homes. The in-home elder care service market is growing and growing and so too has grown the range of elder care services that can be provided in home. From help with relatively minor tasks such as help with keeping up with correspondence and doing the laundry, to more major forms of assistance such as helping seniors with Alzheimer’s Disease and even live-in care, the range of elder care services is truly vast.
Different Types Of Elder Care Services
So just what are these various types of elder care services? Well, here they are:
- Providing companionship, friendship and emotional support
- Talking, listening and sharing experiences
- Playing games/cards and reading
- Providing transportation to medical appointments, grocery store and errands
- Accompanying clients to recreational and/or social events
- And more
- Making/changing beds
- Washing dishes, pots, pans and utensils
- Cleaning kitchen counters and appliances
- Gathering up trash from inside the home and putting it out for pick up
- Cleaning bathroom fixtures
- And more
- Assisting with eating, bathing, using bath equipment, dental/denture care, grooming, and hair care
- Assisting with bowel regularity, self-administered medications, basic skin care and nail maintenance
- Emptying or changing external urinary collecting devices, including catheter bags
- Providing colostomy care and emptying ostomy bag
- Assisting with positioning in bed, wheelchair and other chairs
- Assisting with transferring to/from bed, wheelchair, toilet and chair
- And more
Further Types Of Elder Care
But that’s not the limit of elder care. As discussed, elder care services can also include live-in care. Such care sees a caregiver placed in the home of the client to live 24/7. This means the caregiver can be present whenever needed and can tend to emergency situations. There are also specialized types of elder care services. These services are provided by a caregiver who is specially trained and experienced in dealing with clients who have specific conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, ALS, Parkinson’s Disease, or the aforementioned Alzheimer’s.
Get in touch
If you have any more questions about elder care services, please contact us today.