Home Care

Why Home Care is Important

February 10, 2020 By Logan Aitken

An elderly person and younger person holding hands

Homecare is a great way to get personalized and compassionate treatment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 40.4 million unpaid caregivers of adults ages 65 and older in the United States. Many of those caregivers are also juggling their own jobs and personal responsibilities. Caregiving can be overwhelming and difficult. For many people, home care is an affordable and safe option to ensure their loved ones get the support they need. Here are some specific reasons why in-home care is important to the wellbeing of our loved ones.

Home Care Professionals Can Be There When You Can’t

A loved one in need of senior care may live thousands of miles away. You may be separated by cities, states, or countries. It is not always possible to physically be there. A trained and qualified professional can offer help when needed, giving you peace of mind when you can’t be there in person.

Day-To-Day Activities Stay The Same

Home Care services allow seniors to get the personal care they need while maintaining the activities of their daily lives. Things like showering, grooming, and dressing help can improve the enjoyment and safety of regular day-to-day activities.

At Home Access To Skilled Nursing Care

Home care can ensure your loved one’s complex medical needs are being met. Our caregivers at Kind Hearts Senior Care are professional, reliable, and friendly. We do extensive background checks. All our caregivers have access to our exclusive Certified Companion Aide (CCA®) and Certified Hospice Companion Aide (CHCA®) programs. You can trust our caregivers to perform their duties with professionalism and dedication. They will help your loved ones maintain independence and treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Support With Nutrition And Diet

Aging, bedrest, injuries, and illness can contribute to the loss of body mass and nutrition deficiency. Staying healthy is important can be hard to maintain for many aging adults. Home care can help your loved ones plan, prepare, and cook meals, to help prevent malnutrition and ensure your loved ones are maintaining a well-balanced diet.

Managing Medications

Presciptions are often confusing, and when there are multiple medications needed to be taken, it can be easy for an aging adult to miss or mess up a prescription. A home care professional can ensure the right medications are being taken at the right times. This helps control health conditions and prevents harmful, and sometimes dangerous, drug mishaps.

Caring Companionship

Social interaction is a huge factor in aging adults staying healthy. Our caregivers can be a caring companion to your loved one, by aiding in errands, playing puzzles and games, attending church, the movies, or dinners out, going on walks, attending to pets, and other companionship methods. Having a trusted friend is beneficial to your loved ones.

Help With Light Housework

Not maintaining a house can quickly turn a living environment into a dangerous situation. Home care can help with the daily demands of housework by doing tasks such as dusting, picking up, vacuuming and sweeping, cleaning the kitchen, changing linens, laundry, and bathroom cleaning. These daily chores help maintain a safe and healthy living environment.

Home care can help individuals live safer, healthier, and happier in the comfort of their own home. Home care services are unique to the individual. They provide meaningful, one-on-one personal care. Strong bonds are often formed between the professionals and your loved ones. To learn more about our home care services, visit our website, and contact uswith any questions or concerns you may have. We want to be here to provide the support your loved ones need.

8 Home Care Benefits

September 16, 2019 By Logan Aitken

Known as “independent living”, “non-assisted living”, or the most common, “aging in place”, growing older without having to move to a healthcare environment is becoming increasingly popular. Home care is more than a nurse visiting. It can support an aging adult living at home by helping with their daily activities. Things such as housekeeping, chores, personal care, companion care, errands, and transportation. The services of home care are completely customizable. Each client can get the best service for themselves. There are many benefits of home care, and at Kind Heart Senior Care, we make sure each client’s needs are being met. Here is our list of eight benefits that home care provides.

1. Comfort

One of the main reasons families choose home care is so their loved one can stay in the comfort of their own home for as long as possible. Being in your own home provides comfort, and is what a majority of seniors want. According to the AARP, “nearly 90 percent of people over age 65 indicate they want to stay in their home as long as possible, and four of five in that age bracket believe their current home is where they will always live.” Home Care can help you or a loved one stay at home for as long as possible.

2. Personalized

Home Care offers personalized service plans

Every person is unique and has individualized needs. Home Care services can help meet these needs by providing personalized service plans. At Kind Heart Senior Care we can help with a wide variety of tasks. We specialize in various services such as Alzheimer’s care, Dementia care, Parkinson’s care, and more. Even if you or your loved one is comfortable taking care of themselves at home, our services can help. With companionship options, transportation, and more, we can improve their quality of life.

3. One-On-One Attention

Like a personalized plan, Home Care services provide one-on-one attention to the individual. This is often missed in other healthcare services. It is huge in helping extend and improve quality of life. Individualized help allows our nurses to understand each person and provide the best service for them. This can reduce anxiety and stress for both the senior and their family.

4. Cost-Effectiveness

Home Care Services are generally less expensive than other forms of care. Since there is so much flexibility in the available services, and time of day, our plans are flexible with budgets. In general, home care costs only one-tenth as much as hospitalization and only one-fourth as much as nursing home placement to deal with comparable health problems.

5. Independence

No one want’s to completely give up their independence. This is why home care services can be so beneficial to seniors. By staying at home, you or your loved one can still keep their independence and live life normally. They can still choose their own schedule, decide when they want to eat, sleep, and socialize, and keep control over many aspects of their life. This helps preserve their dignity and maintain a high quality of life.

6. Companionship

Since home care services are so personalized, nurses and clients often form bonds. Aging adults stay happier and healthier with social interaction, and home care provides that. Besides our medical services, we also offer companionship services. These include playing games, puzzles, watching movies, attending events and services, reading, walks and other social activities. All these services can provide companionship.

7. Pet Ownership

Pets are a part of the family for many people, but, they often get neglected when an aging adult’s health starts to decline. With Home Care services, we can help take care of pets, so their companionship is still enjoyed. According to AgingCare, pets reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and have a positive effect on symptoms of depression and loneliness. They are an important part of many people’s lives and are important to take care of too.

8. Improved Quality of Life

Home Care creates an improved quality of life

By adding home care services to their daily life, aging adults will no longer have to deal with their personal struggles. Since each plan is personalized, the activities that are the most difficult for the senior will no longer be an issue. This helps relieve stress and anxiety, making for an improved quality of life.

The benefits of Home Care make it a great choice for many seniors. With the ability to keep their independence and live a higher quality of life, many aging adults choose to age in place instead of moving to a different type of healthcare facility. Here at Kind Heart Senior Care, we are happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have. Feel free to contact us or visit our website for a list of services we provide.

How To Tell If A Loved One Needs Home Care Services

August 5, 2019 By Logan Aitken

Deciding if it is time for a loved one to receive home care services is a hard choice. It is not always black and white deciding when the time is right. There are many factors to consider regarding home care needs, ranging in a variety of aspects of life. Here at Kind Heart Senior Care, we want to make the process go smoothly for you and your loved one. To help make things smooth, we’ve compiled a list of factors to consider. These factors will make the decision process a simpler and easier choice.

There are four major categories to consider when evaluating if it is time for help. These four categories are a basis for your evaluation. Extend each category as needed, depending on the individual’s lifestyle. Based on the individual’s situation, home care services can range from once or twice a week, to full 24/7 help. If you determine home care is a necessity, call our office to talk about a personalized plan.

Personal Care

The first category to consider is Personal Care. This category looks at how the person is taking care of themselves. Keeping up with personal hygiene is important to staying healthy. When evaluating the individual, consider the following:

Is the person bathing? Are they keeping up with showers or baths? Are they able to shower and clean themselves properly and safely?
Is the individual eating? Are they forgetting meals or choosing not to eat?
How is the person dressing? Are they wearing clean clothes? Are they dressing appropriately for the place they’re at? Are they presenting themselves as they have before?
Is the individual using the toilet? Are there problems such as bed-wetting or spoiled pants?
Is the person keeping up with grooming? Are they keeping up with their fingernails and toenails? Is the individual getting hair cuts and maintaining their hair? Are they keeping up with facial hair?

Take note of these personal care items. Compare how the person is maintaining themselves compared to 1 month ago, 6 months ago, 1 year ago, and 5 years ago. Are there dramatic changes to the individual’s personal care? Small changes in one’s appearance could point to a need for home care.

Household Care

The second category to consider is Household Care. This category considers if the person’s home is being maintained. An unmaintained house can be dangerous, so keeping up with it is important. Often this is the first category a person declines in. When evaluating the individual’s household care, consider the following:

Is the person cooking for themselves? Are they making homemade meals?
Is the individual still getting groceries? Do they buy frozen meals, or are they taking the time to cook proper, nutritious meals?
Is the person keeping up with household chores? Is the house cleaned on a regular basis? Are their items generally picked up? Is there dust or dirty dishes laying around?
How is the individual doing at keeping up with laundry? Are there excessive amounts of dirty laundry laying around? Are their clothes full of holes or falling apart?
How is the person taking care of shopping? Are they able to get groceries, personal care items, medication, and other things they need?

Again, compare how the person is following these steps now to previous times. Are there dramatic changes to the individual’s household care? Changes in one’s home maintenance could suggest a need for home care services.

Health Care

The third step to consider is Health Care. This step looks are how a person is maintaining their well-being. Ignoring, forgetting, or avoiding health care, can be detrimental to one’s health. When evaluating the individual, consider the following:

Is the person managing their medicine? Are they taking everything on time? Are they forgetting or avoiding any medication?
Is the individual scheduling and maintaining doctor appointments? Are they arriving in a timely matter to appointments? Are they following up when needed?
Is the person attending physical therapy when need be? Are the following in-home instructions when directed to?
Does the person have memory issues? Do they often forget things that raise concerns? Have you noticed the individual repeating themselves or getting aggravated more often?
Has there been any extreme weight fluctuation in the individual? Has there been any drastic weight loss or gain with no explanation?

Look at these steps and compare them to the person’s past behavior. Have there been dramatic changes to the individual’s health care? Changes in one’s well-being could imply a need for home care services.

Emotional Care

The final step is Emotional Care. This category looks at the person’s emotional health. Mental health is hard to gauge when you aren’t always around, but asking questions can help you assess. When evaluating the individual, consider the following:

Is the person lonely? Are they withdrawn? Have they seen another person today, this week, or this month?
Does the individual have companionship? Do they see other people throughout the day? Do they have a pet to keep them company? Do they have family, a significant other, or friends to visit with?
Is the person participating in meaningful activities? Are they involved with clubs, sports, or community events they once enjoyed? Do they leave their house and interact with others? Are they participating in activities that stimulate their mind and body?
Is the individual having conversations? Do they interact with other people? Are they conversing on the phone? Are they able to fully articulate a conversation?

Like the previous steps, compare these things to how the person behaved in the past. Emotional health is important and home care services can be simply companionship. If there are dramatic differences in the individual, it may be time for home care.

By evaluating these steps, you will be able to make an informed decision about home care services. Here at Kind Heart Senior Care, we offer services to help with all these concerns and more. Find more information about our services here. If home care is the right choice for a loved one, we are happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have. Contact us at Kind Heart Senior Care, and we will take the time to learn about your unique situation.