Elder care services have transformed what it means to be a senior in the 21st century. Not long ago, any senior who was unfortunate enough to have an issue that required care of some kind –which, if we live long enough, will likely be a situation in which we all find ourselves one day– would be automatically directed towards a nursing home or senior care facility of some kind. For the vast majority of seniors, that’s just how it worked. There was very little consideration for the diversity of seniors, their situations, and their needs. Nowadays, that’s all changed. Now, there are a plethora of elder care services available to seniors everywhere.
Elder Care Services
Let us begin by defining what we mean by “elder care services”. An elder care service is any service designed to help seniors in their lives. These services are typically provided by a caregiver and can be conducted in the homes of seniors or in senior care facilities. Elder care services can focus on physically helping the seniors themselves, for example, helping them get in and out of bed or helping them with their personal hygiene. Or it can be something that helps seniors manage their lives, for example, helping them with errands and chores and the like.
Types of Elder Care Services
Elder care services can be broadly divided into three main categories: physical care, companion care, and homemaking care. Here are some brief overviews of each:
- Personal Care – This elder care service sees a caregiver help a senior with the activities of daily living. Physical care involves a caregiver physically helping the senior in question. Some physical care services include: assisting with eating and bathing, using bath equipment, dental/denture care, grooming, emptying or changing external urinary collecting devices, providing colostomy care and emptying ostomy bags, and assisting with transferring to/from bed, wheelchair, toilet and chair.
- Companion Care – This elder care service sees a caregiver help with a seniors mental and emotional wellbeing. Some companion care services include: Talking, listening, and sharing experiences, playing games/cards and reading, helping to keep clients in contact with family and friends and the outside world, providing transportation to medical appointments and grocery stores, and accompanying clients to recreational and/or social events.
- Homemaking Care – This elder care service sees a caregiver help a senior with the housekeeping tasks and errands that they find difficult or dangerous to perform. Some homemaking services include: 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, sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping floors, doing laundry, and overseeing meal planning and preparation.
Other Elder Care Services
But those aren’t all the elder care services out there. Seniors can also get all of the above services offered around the clock with live-in care. Seniors with specific conditions such as ALS or Multiple Sclerosis can benefit from working with caregivers who are specially skilled in dealing with those conditions. And all of the above services are available from Executive Home Care.
Get in Touch
If you would like to learn more about the elder care services available in your area and to see which services are right for your family, please get in touch with us today.