You have finally chosen home care services to help out with your elderly loved one’s daily needs. You did your research and decided on an agency that had a good reputation and one with which many families were completely satisfied. Now you and your aging parent or other loved one, such as a grandparent or an aunt or uncle, need to prepare yourselves for these home care services.
Depending on the level of home care services that are required, the direct impact on their life (your loved one’s life) could be minor or more significant. Below are five tips that can help you prepare for the home care services you and your loved one is about to receive.
- Meet the Caregiver in Person, in Home First. It is important that you meet the direct caregiver in person before they come into your home, or the home of your parents or other loved one. While some people can get along with just about anyone, you want to make sure that the caregiver and the one receiving service will be comfortable in the situation. It may not always be possible to conduct this initial meeting or interview in the elderly individual’s home, but if possible it is the best situation.
- Have Everything in Its Place. Make sure that everything in the home is in its proper place. It can be easy to move things around for convenience, but when someone is coming into your home to help out on a regular basis, whether it’s for a few hours a day or 24 hour care, it’s a good idea to have everything where it should be. For example, a kitchen chair may be situated in another room because the aging individual prefers to be in the bedroom. This can certainly continue, but it’s a good idea to have the chair in the kitchen at first so that the home care specialist will understand better how their patient prefers to live.
- Be Organized. Being organized is essential. Make sure that all medical records, legal papers, and other information is written down in an organized manner. Make sure that it is easy for someone who has never seen this information to find what they may require at any given time.
- Write Down Emergency Contact Information. You should have all emergency contact information, including your phone number, email address, and the phone numbers of anyone else who should be contacted in a location that is readily accessible to the caregiver in case there is an emergency.
- Plan a Check-In Time with Your Loved One Daily. Assure your loved one that you will check in with him or her on a daily basis. This could be a quick phone call at 5 PM, or stopping in for a visit and nine in the morning. This will allow you and your loved one to have a private moment to make sure that everything is comfortable and moving smoothly.
The more prepared you are to receive home care services, the smoother and more comfortable the transition will be for everyone involved.