what should a home care provider really be doing?
24-Hour Home Care, Seniors, And The Winter Weather
Adrian Cano
Why does the senior in your life need 24-hour home care this winter? Take a look at the top reasons to hire live-in care for your grandparent, parent, or other loved one during the coldest months of the year.
Reduce Winter-Time Isolation
The cold weather may make it difficult, if not impossible, for your loved one to get out of the house. This can lead to a sense of isolation. Wintertime isolation can impact your loved one's mental and physical health, resulting in sadness, depression, and anxiety.
You may try your best to spend time with your loved one. But if work, other family obligations, distance, or daily life gets in the way, an in-home caregiver can provide the constant companionship a homebound senior needs—minus the need for them to venture into the cold, snowy, icy weather.
Along with live-in home care aides, peers (like aged friends or acquaintances) play important roles in the senior's social life. If your loved one can't or won't go out to community classes, groups, or other similar activities in the winter, a professional caregiver can help.
These caregivers do more than only provide help inside the home. Home health aides often also offer transportation services to places such as a community center, senior center, organized activity, or a friend's home. This helps your parent, grandparent, or family member to expand their social circle and enjoy the psychological and emotional benefits of meaningful friendships during the winter.
Decrease Cold Weather Risks
Isolation isn't the only issue your loved one may face in the winter months. Cold weather presents risks to some seniors—both indoors and outdoors. Does your loved one turn down the heat to save money on their electricity or natural gas bills? If the senior keeps the thermostat on a low setting, doesn't feel the cold indoor air, or can't remember to boost the temperature up on cold days, a home caregiver can help to give them a safe indoor environment
According to the National Institute on Aging, older adults can lose their body heat at a faster rate than younger people. This may make it difficult for the senior in your life to feel when they're cold. Pair age-related heat losses/sensation losses with mobility impairments and cognitive or memory decline and the senior's risk for hypothermia can increase. A 24-hour caregiver can reduce cold-related hazards and assess the temperature, help your loved one to choose warm clothes, or dress them.
For more information about 24-hour home care for your elderly family member, contact a local home care company, like Mid-Hudson Managed Home Care Inc.
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If you have a home health care worker in your home, you know very well how helpful he or she can be. What you may not know is what all that worker is supposed to be doing while in your home. Does the service provide general housecleaning services? Should he or she be doing laundry for the one that they are caring for? My blog will show you what services may or may not be offered by home health care services so that you can look further into what the service you have hired is supposed to be doing in your home.