When you ask senior citizen, the vast majority express a preference for living assistance. Rather than move to an assisted living facility, most would prefer to receive in-home living assistance, allowing them to age in place. For confirmation, look no further than the AARP which conducts regular surveys on aging and housing preferences. In these surveys, the vast majority of respondents express a preference for aging in place — even if this means hiring an in-home care service. What leads so many seniors to this preference? We have a pretty good idea at Visiting Angels®. Below are 7 of the biggest reasons why our clients choose living assistance as an alternative to assisted living. 7 Reasons Seniors Prefer In-Home Living Assistance#1. Improved Health Outcomes One of the best arguments for living assistance is the improved health outcomes of seniors who age in place. Numerous studies have found that seniors who receive care at home live longer than those who move to care facilities. In addition to higher life expectancy, seniors who age in place also enjoy fewer physical, mental, and emotional health challenges. #2. In-Home Care is More Affordable When you move to an assisted living facility, you’re spending tens of thousands of dollars each year. In some instances — namely those where 24-hour care or 24/7 monitoring is necessary — this can be cheaper than receiving support at home. However, in cases where seniors need less intensive care, it’s typically much less expensive to hire an in-home caregiver. #3. Enjoy Greater Independence Age-related difficulties can rob elderly adults of total independence. However, that doesn’t mean that seniors need to sacrifice their autonomy completely. By continuing to live at home, seniors can maintain as much independence and freedom as possible. In a similar vein, they can preserve their privacy in a way that isn’t possible with assisted living. #4. Trustworthy Caregiver Relationships At an assisted living facility, care is delivered by a staff of several caregivers. At any given time, care is provided by whoever happens to be on duty. However, with in-home living assistance, care is provided by the same caregiver or caregivers on each visit. As a result, caregivers can develop close relationships with clients and offer better companion care and personal care, which allows for greater comfort, increased trust, and a more personal (and more personalized!) approach to caregiving. #5. No Change in Personal Routines When seniors move to a care facility, they don’t just experience a change of environment. They also undergo a significant change in routine, partly due to a new and unfamiliar space, which impacts how seniors live day-to-day. It also stems from how the facility schedules mealtimes, group activities, and caregiving administration, which can differ significantly from at-home routines. #6. Familiar Surroundings After a move, you need to adapt to new living quarters and a new neighborhood. Which can be more jarring than you might expect, especially for seniors who’ve lived in the same area for a significant amount of time. Losing nearby amenities, favorite shops, and cherished neighbors can prove just as alienating, if not more, as the loss of one’s home. #7. Home Sweet Home The main reason why seniors prefer living assistance over assisted living should be apparent: they feel most comfortable at home. While some seniors don’t feel strongly about aging in place, they tend to be the exception, not the rule. The vast majority express a clear preference for living at home, the place where they feel the safest, the most secure, and the most content. That’s not possible with assisted living, but with living assistance, it is. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton provides professional home caregivers who are CNA or HHA-certified home health aides. Schedule a free in-home living assistance consultation by contacting us today! About Visiting Angels Newton/Canton
Visiting Angels Newton/Canton senior home care agency provides quality in-home care services to seniors and people with disabilities. Countless families have benefited from our dementia home care, Alzheimer’s care, companion care, respite support, transitional aid, and elder home care services in Canton, Stoughton, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Needham, Brookline, Chestnut Hill, Westwood, Dedham, Watertown, Roslindale, Norwood, and nearby towns. The services provided by Visiting Angels Newton/Canton will be sure to make a positive impact on your loved one’s happiness and quality of life. Call us today at 617-795-2727 for more information.
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When hiring a caregiving service, many family caregivers remove themselves from the situation. They envision care as a two-part equation. Care recipient on one side - home care agency on the other. In truth, family caregivers are a crucial part of this equation. Caregiving is easier when family members and professional caregivers support one another. It allows you to split caregiving responsibilities effectively. It will enable you to focus on the care duties you’re most comfortable handling. Also, it helps you avoid caregiver burnout, which is common among family caregivers. Preventing caregiver burnout is equally crucial for your well-being. Caregiving improves or maintains quality of life for your loved one. However, that shouldn’t come at the cost of your self-care. Without support from professional caregivers, it is possible for your physical, mental, and emotional health to suffer. So when you are hiring home care services, it’s essential to keep your schedule, needs, and well-being in mind. Moreover, you’ll want to do the same for other family caregivers who provide care for your loved one. Coordinating with Home Care Agencies When you’re hiring a caregiving service, whether it is respite care, live-in care, dementia care, or other assistance, there are several areas where it helps to coordinate between family caregivers and home care professionals. Below are six areas where this can make a big difference in the quality of life for the care recipient and family caregivers.
Finding the Right Home Care Provider Choosing the right home care provider will make coordinating care between family caregivers and care professionals seamless. So, it’s crucial to keep this in mind during consultations with home care agencies. A comfortable rapport and feeling of confidence in your case manager are essential.
When you meet with home care agencies, you’ll want to focus primarily on your loved one’s needs and routines. However, you should find time to discuss your own needs as well as those of other family caregivers. Can care be scheduled in a way that makes your life more workable? Are there care tasks that you’d preferably have performed by a professional? Will you need respite visits to allow for self-care? At the same time, you’ll want to develop a good relationship with the agency and its home health aides. These are the people who you’ll be planning, coordinating, and working with throughout the duration of your loved one’s care. As such, it’s essential that you start with a foundation of comfort and trust. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton is an award-winning home care agency with an excellent track record with over fifteen years of experience in the home care industry. Our case managers and care providers understand the tremendous role family caregivers have in the care equation. Because of this, we go the extra mile to work with our clients’ family members to provide caregivers with the support they need. Our case managers and office staff make it a priority to communicate with you and your family about changes in schedules, medication needs, appointments, and the day-to-day needs of our clients and their family caregivers. About Visiting Angels Newton/Canton Visiting Angels Newton/Canton senior home care agency provides quality in-home care services to seniors and people with disabilities. Countless families have benefited from our dementia home care, Alzheimer’s care, companion care, respite support, transitional aid, and elder home care services in Wellesley, Natick, Newton, Needham, Brookline, Chestnut Hill, Canton, Westwood, Dedham, Watertown, Stoughton, Roslindale, Norwood, and nearby towns. The services provided by Visiting Angels Newton/Canton will be sure to make a positive impact on your loved one’s happiness and quality of life. Call us today at 617-795-2727 for more information. Worrying about aging family members is the reality for many adult children, whether their loved ones live alone or with a spouse whose health or memory is failing; however, it’s especially hard when you live far away. You know Dad’s getting to an age where he cannot be entirely independent. What happens when you or your siblings are not around to drop in on him? With families more spread out than ever, long-distance caregiving has become the norm for many. The upside? Technology and other community-based services, tools, and resources make it possible to create a network of care for an elderly loved one in a different city or state. Here are some ways to care for your aging loved one when you don’t live locally. Use Video Chat to CommunicateIf you’re not doing it already, encourage your loved one to use video chat technology like Zoom, Skype or FaceTime to keep in touch. When you can’t drop by in person, plan a video call with your father — an excellent way to find out how he’s doing. Maybe Dad looks content and healthy but sounds sad on the phone because he misses you. On the other hand, he may sound cheery on the phone — trying to put your mind at ease — but when you see his face in real time, you see how your mother’s passing is wearing on him. As you check in more regularly this way, take notes and keep track of subtle hints he may need more help or signs that he is lonely and may need some friendly visitors. Make a Family & Friend Visit ScheduleSocial isolation is one of the biggest pitfalls of growing older at home. For many aging couples, even caregiving can result in isolation, despite not being alone. As your Mom cares for your father through a dementia diagnosis, both can suffer socially. She may start to feel internally isolated as the man she’s loved for decades starts changing. The relationship becomes less of a partnership and more of stewardship. It is also harder to stay connected to friends; seniors may receive fewer visitors while getting out into the community less frequently. Friendly visitors — relatives, good friends, neighbors or even volunteers from a local community organization – can provide the companionship a lonely loved one needs. Try to keep a calendar of who is coming and when so that visitors honor their commitments and do not randomly show up unannounced. Don’t have any cousins or relatives to call? Contact your parent’s local Area Agency on Aging to learn about organizations that provide these types of visits. Automate Bills & PillsThe advent of secure online banking, and prescription delivery services, means you don’t always have to sit at Mom’s desk to help renew her prescriptions or pay her bills. It may be helpful to get everything set up in person first when you are in town (maybe even visiting Mom’s local bank branch and pharmacy to touch base) but then automate as much as possible so you can manage it when you return home. It’s important not to gloss over this vital part of senior care. Our elderly loved ones – especially those facing declining mental faculties – can and will forget about things like medication and bills. Save your parent time and lots of money in charges by ensuring their obligations are automated. For prescriptions, consider professional help as prescription management will aid your loved one and possibly avoid costly hospital admission. Shop & Ship OnlineIf Dad needs an abundant supply of incontinence products and he has trouble getting to the grocery store, Amazon Prime and grocery delivery services through significant stores like Target, Instacart or Peapod can step in when you are not around. Some of these online shopping options offer discounts on repeat items, so if you know Dad needs adult diapers every two months, you may be able to save some money by setting up recurring orders. Foster Community Engagement OpportunitiesSet up Uber transportation or a city transit ride so Mom can go to the library or her favorite hairdresser once a month. Reach out to your parents’ community center, if possible, to find out what support services they might offer for older adults who don’t have family in the area. If your Dad still drives, research local volunteer opportunities that may help him get out of the house for a bit and stay socially connected. You may not imagine it a necessity, but know that your parent may not know how to become socially involved with others, despite feeling lonely. Aging can take a toll on our loved ones, and they may feel increasingly less motivated to leave the house. That’s when your encouragement is helpful. Add a Professional Caregiver to the TeamDistance does make things a little more complicated when your parents are aging as it is not always realistic for you to move closer to them or to uproot them and bring them to your home territory. There are ways to foster their independence and success at home. Once you’ve built a care network through the avenues described above, you may also want to consider a professional caregiver from a trusted home care provider. What can a professional caregiver do to help? There is a wide range of non-medical home care services available, from meal prep and laundry, to help with light housework, to medical appointment transportation and more — some partner with a professional caregiver solely for the companionship benefits. Moreover, you can still organize and coordinate this care, even if you don’t live locally. A professional home caregiver can be your eyes and ears on Dad, or the extra hands Mom needs around the house. To learn more, visit visitingangels.com/newton. About Visiting Angels Newton/Canton Visiting Angels Newton/Canton senior home care agency provides quality in-home care services to seniors and people with disabilities. Countless families have benefited from our dementia home care, Alzheimer’s care, companion care, respite support, transitional aid, and elder home care services in Wellesley, Natick, Newton, Needham, Brookline, Chestnut Hill, Canton, Westwood, Dedham, Watertown, Stoughton, Roslindale, Norwood, and nearby towns. The services provided by Visiting Angels Newton/Canton will be sure to make a positive impact on your loved one’s happiness and quality of life. Call us today at 617-795-2727 for more information. If you have never cared for an elderly loved one, you might think that anyone can provide home care services. However, if you have cared for a parent or grandparent, you know that high-quality care takes a unique mix of skill, patience, and experience. It’s an essential point for anyone hiring home care services: high-quality senior home care means experienced senior home care. To most people, that means hiring a caregiver with a proven background in senior services. While important, this is not all you should look for in senior home care. It’s just as crucial that you’re choosing a qualified, well-respected agency. If the agency is a part of a more extensive network, you’ll also want to consider their experience as an organization. Trusted & Proven Company-Level ReputationAmerica’s most trusted caregiving companies are well-established names with proven track records. Usually, the easiest way to find qualified senior home care is to look for companies with a history of high-quality care. The best home care companies earn their reputations by sharing resources, knowledge, and experience at every level of their organization. They also set and enforce rigorous caregiving standards, giving clients and their families peace of mind. Families choose Visiting Angels for skilled elder home care. As a company, Visiting Angels has more than 20 years of caregiving experience. Over the years, it has created a rigorous support network for its local offices, allowing them to share knowledge and expertise. Every office is provided with the systems, tools, and educational resources needed to deliver truly exceptional care. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton has been a member of this franchise since 2004. Our excellent customer feedback has enabled us to win Best of Home Care from the national client satisfaction survey firm, Home Care Pulse five years in a row. |
AuthorVisiting Angels Newton/Canton is an award-winning in-home care agency that provides high quality home care to seniors and disabled adults in Greater Boston, MA. Archives
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