Deciding to entrust an elderly loved one with a stranger is too scary a thought for most people to entertain. In a time when feelings of guilt may be creeping in for having to resort to outsourcing the care of a loved one, the additional worry for their safety can make an already difficult situation seem exponentially worse. Knowing which questions to ask a potential in-home care provider agency can help alleviate some of the anxiety involved in making the decision. Here are some examples of the type of questions that families should ask.
1. How established is the elder care company in the community?
An older company will have a longer, more proven track record in senior care than a newly established business. Since the companies are audited by governmental agencies each year for code and policy violations, better established companies will have more information on file regarding documented incidences of violations.
2. What are people saying about the agency?
Word of mouth advertising is the best way to get truthful information regarding a company’s operating procedures. If the clients are well-served by the agency, the families’ feedback to others is going to reflect that. However, if the families of the loved ones enrolled in the agency’s services have complaints about the agency or its providers, their feedback is going to reflect that also.
3. What kind of training does the elderly care agency provide for its employees?
A reputable in-home care agency will have ongoing training for their employees and staff to ensure that they are up to date with the latest information in the industry and that they are armed with the proper tools to provide excellent home care services. This additional training is passed on to the seniors in increased quality of care that the staff is able to provide.
4. What is the status of the agency’s licensing and bonding?
It is prudent to investigate whether an in-home care agency’s operational licensing and insurance bond are in active status. Any lapse in policy coverage could signal a red flag.
5. Does the agency have any accreditations?
National accreditation organizations evaluate home care agencies, at the agency’s request, and award the center with merits or accreditations for quality health care services. Some of the organizations that families can contact regarding an in-home care provider’s accreditations are the National Home Caring Council, the National Committee For Quality Assurance, and the Community Health Accreditation Program.
Tags: care providers, el cajon, in home care, la mesa, san diego
As we age, an unstable and unfamiliar environment can not only be confusing – but it can also be detrimental to the health. A stable environment is one that the senior is intimately familiar with. Examples of these are their own home or the home of a close friend or relative.
A stable environment such as the home that one has lived in for an extended period of time can provide comfort – even through moments of confusion. Although the client may become confused as cognitive function decreases, it can be comforting to know that there are certain items or aspects of the home that may act as a trigger for the memory and bring comfort to the patient. This, in contrast to a residential care home, can help to prevent the onset of cognitive impairments. Residential care homes are unfamiliar environments and contain very few personal effects and items that can create the familiarity which is necessary in the health of the senior.
What are some ways that caregivers can ensure that the home environment remains stable and familiar for the senior care clients? Here are some techiniques that caregivers can employ to help seniors develop and maintain a degree of familiarity within their surroundings.
Keeping the same routine contributes to the stability of the environment. Routines should be adhered to throughout each visit and include the same tasks practices with the same caregiver, when possible. Routines can help establish a personal bond between the caregivers and the clients. The routine may include a daily reminder of the tasks which are to be completed and the medication that is to be taken. Or the routine could include the task of helping with errands and chores around the house. In the case that the routine includes dressing, associating a certain color or piece of clothing with the week day is a great way for seniors suffering from memory loss to remember the day of the week.
As health begins to decline with age it can affect the memory and function of the brain. This can cause difficulty in remembering simple tasks and locations of items within the home. While in the home of the client, caregivers should remember to leave everything as it was in order for the client to be able to locate these items. In most cases, clients have certain areas that have been delegated for certain items and any changes to these locations can cause disillusion and confusion within the mind of the client.
A stable senior care environment allows the care givers and family members to determine if there have been any changes within the health of the individual by taking cues from their surroundings. Some cues may be a well-kept home quickly becoming disheveled or items within random places within the home, which can identify signs of early onset of degenerative brain disorders and may be a signal to contract the services of a qualified medical professional for further diagnosis.
Tags: caregivers, el cajon, la mesa, san diego, senior care
Caregivers at Advanta Home Care should promote and encourage interaction between clients and friends or family members. This interaction can help to slow degenerative disorders and help to maintain communication skills. There are multiple techniques which can be employed to promote the mental health and cognitive state of the client. Use these tips to promote healthy social interaction between the client and caregiver, the client and family members and the client and the community:
Engage the Client
The most important way for the caregiver to promote these relationships is to engage the client in conversation. This can be achieved by talking about hobbies, interests and events during the sessions in which the caregiver is providing care to the client. Social engagement can decrease the cognitive decline that so commonly occurs with age. Engagement on a daily or weekly basis with the caregiver is an effective way to maintain these important social skills.
Involve Family Members and Friends
In many cases, there are family members and friends that are involved the care of the senior. Engaging this support system to ensure that the senior is being encouraged to maintain interaction in family events, celebrations and activities is an effective way to ensure communication. As clients age and cognitive function seems to decline it becomes a “use it or lose it” situation. Friends and family members must take the opportunity to ensure that the client is being exposed to social interaction on multiple levels each day to retain these crucial skills.
Promote Organized Activities
Offering information for programs and organized activities within the community that suit the interests of the client can assist in promoting interaction and engagement with others. Studies have shown that clients with a lifestyle that includes organized activities demonstrate the best results in maintaining the social and communication skills, which often deplete with age.
Encourage Variety
Variety in activities ensures that the client won’t get bored easily with the surroundings. These activities can be outings that include interaction with friends and family members as programs within other with community groups and services, which also provide a variety in the kinds of people the clients are interacting with.
Take Advantage of Community Programs
There are multiple community programs which match volunteers with the elderly, in the case that there are no existing family members or support systems. These types of programs include regular visits from the organization or volunteer that has been matched and can help to maintain the social skills of the clients. By implementing these techniques into their client’s care program, caregivers can effectively maintain the livelihood and quality of life for the client.
Tags: caregivers, el cajon, la mesa, san diego
As we age, it is important to use nutrition as a step toward preventing the onset of certain illnesses and disorders through the food choices that we make. As caregivers, it is important to emphasize good food choices to elderly clients due to the way these choices can influence the way that we age – both on the inside and on the outside.
How can caregivers help clients to make proper food choices?
Caregivers with Advanta Home Care can provide support while shopping for groceries to help the elder. Care in choosing a wide variety of foods that includes whole grains, fruits, dairy products, and vegetables, will be taken to ensure that the individual is consuming the recommended daily servings from each of the food groups.
Obviously, when shopping with an elder, care will be given should they have any medical conditions that involve their diet, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
Because the nutritional requirements for the body change as we age, it is important to ensure that foods are consumed that are high in vitamin D, B vitamins, calcium, folate and iron. Without these foods the body can become devoid of these nutrients and cause the immune system to become susceptible as well as complications in the digestive system.
Teaching healthy eating habits and suggesting healthy snacks at home, while at the grocery store and through the use of community programs can be an effective way for caregivers to improve the nutritional intake of their clients.
What are some other ways caregivers can help their clients determine and meet their nutritional needs?
Caregivers should ensure that the client is eating enough to survive. In many cases, if the client has suffered from degenerative disorders or a loss of cognitive function, it can be easy to forget that they need to eat. In this case, a schedule and meal plan that includes pre-prepared meals should be designed for the client along with reminders. Ease of preparation is an important factor in designing a meal plan for the elderly. Reminders about the preparation and eating their meals can be delivered via phone calls from members of the support system or by the caregiver during scheduled visits. Proper eating habits can maintain the energy level of the senior, while fighting disease and boosting the immune system.
As we age, the body requires less food. In fact, research has demonstrated that with every decade past the age of forty, the body requires ten percent less food. Although eating less is required, more nutrients and vitamins should be found within the food choices.
Setting up a supplementary appointment with a dietician is an aspect of elder care that caregivers should consider. The dietician can work with the senior to develop a healthy menu that includes vitamins, nutrients and proteins which are all important parts of a balanced diet.
There are plenty of shop and stores in the areas we serve (San Diego, El Cajon, La Mesa) so let one of our dedicated team look after someone you care about.
Tags: care providers, el cajon, elder care, la mesa, san diego
Traditional care homes involve a level of independent or dependent care in an environment that houses seniors within a facility. These homes often entail self-contained units in which the senior has access to care from professionals as well as access to meal plans and other amenities.
As an alternative to care homes, in home care providers can give the care the client requires and the assistance with dressing, bathing, eating and cooking while assisting the senior in running errands, while they reside in their own home.
Although traditional care homes provide constant, round-the-clock care to patients and clients from nurses and other health care professionals for a variety of reasons, they can often be detrimental to the health of the patient and can lead to depression and other illnesses due the environment they are in.
Here are some the drawbacks of traditional care homes, in which seniors live together with constant supervision of health care professionals:
- Stability is an important part of maintaining cognitive ability through age. Stability can be provided with access to a home in which the senior is familiar and has triggers within the home that can help to link the senior with his or her memories. In care homes, these triggers are often reduced to a few personal belongings.
- The ratio of care providers to clients in a care home is low, in comparison to the one-on-one care that can be provided in home through the use of a caregiver program, such as the ones provided by Advanta Home Care.
- Care homes can lead to depression and anxiety as the client is removed and separated from everything they know, as well as their family members. When a client makes the move to a care home, the visits from family members and other members of their support group often decline. For this reason, many families try to avoid using a care home for as long as possible to ensure the continued good health of the senior.
- Although there are multiple activities available for seniors in care homes, the desire to participate in such activities is often lacking. When the senior remains at home and is cared for through a personal support network with a caregiver and companion, the caregiver can motivate the client – whereas members of the staff of the care home are often preoccupied with other matters and other residents within the facility.
If you don’t think that a care home is the right option for your family member or friend and you live in the areas surrounding San Diego, El Cajon and La Mesa then please get in touch with us for some more information.
Tags: care providers, caregivers, el cajon, la mesa, san diego
Respite care is the temporary relief of caregiving duties of primary caregivers of ill or elderly patients. In the short-term, caregiving duties are assigned to another individual or staff member so that the primary provider may have a break from the responsibility of constant care.
Caregiving is a demanding job for anyone, but it can be especially difficult for close family members who are caring for an elderly relative. Many times people find themselves thrust into the unexpected circumstance of their aged family member’s health and well-being resting squarely upon their own shoulders. In the midst of juggling a family of their own and perhaps a career, many caregivers eventually burn out from trying to be everything to everyone all at once. Respite care is an alternative that primary caregivers can turn to before reaching a breaking point.
There are two basic principals to respite care. They are sharing the responsibility of caregiving and finding support for the caregivers themselves. Many times, caregivers just need a break to do things they would rather be doing, to catch up on personal business, or to just get some rest. Perhaps things have come to a point where the caregiver realizes they are no longer able to provide all the necessary care their elderly loved one requires on a regular basis and needs respite care a couple of days a week instead of once in a blue moon.
In home respite care allows the senior to remain within the familiar surroundings of their own home while trained personnel are called in to relieve the primary caregiver’s duties. This relief can be scheduled for a few hours at a time or for longer periods such as an overnight stay. The three primary types of in home respite care providers are the companionship provider, the personal care provider, and the trained medical services provider.
Companionship providers may accompany seniors on outings or recreational activities. They might play games with them or just sit and chat for a while. Personal care providers may assist clients with daily tasks such as housekeeping, bathing, and meal preparation. Trained medical providers are able to provide medical assistance to seniors with diagnosed medical conditions in the absence of their primary caregiver. Some of the medical services may include wound dressing and medication dispensing.
Knowing what the needs of their loved ones are and also realizing their own limitations are the keys for primary care providers to formulate a workable in-home respite care solution for their personal situation.
Are you looking for care for a loved one or family friend in the San Diego, El Cajon, La Mesa area? If so please contact us for more information.
Tags: caregivers, el cajon, in home care, la mesa, respite care, san diego
When choosing the best senior care program for a loved one, first a family must determine that their elder’s personal needs are. The most important factor to consider is how much a senior is able to do for themselves. When possible, maintaining a certain degree of independence is beneficial for seniors’ overall mental and physical health. However, if certain tasks become to much for them or if they just need a little extra assistance from time to time, home care services are a suitable option. There are many options in home care services which allow a plan to be tailored to fit the specific needs of the client.
Elderly home care is provided on two levels. The first level is a caregiver who provides non-medical, personal care and assistance to the clients during scheduled visits to their homes. These services are sometimes referred to as companion services. Some of the services that a caregiver or companion may provide are:
- Personal grooming and hygiene assistance such as bathing and toileting
- Meal preparation
- Housekeeping services
- Laundry services
- Shopping
- Running errands
- Paying bills
- Transportation
The other level of elderly home care is provided by trained medical staff. These services are provided by nurses, physical therapists, physicians, and other licensed professionals during scheduled visits to the seniors’ homes. Some of the services the trained medical staff may provide are:
- Physical therapy for rehabilitation from injury, stroke, or surgery
- Dispensing and prescribing medications
- Monitoring blood pressure and blood glucose levels
- Monitoring infections and/or infectious diseases
- Administering breathing treatments
- Maintenance of medical equipment such as breathing machines or oxygen tanks
- Wound dressings
- Maintenance of long-term treatment equipment such as feeding tubes, IV drips, trach tubes, and/or colostomy bags
These services are available for as long as a loved one may need them. One option is on a long-term basis where a family member is decided to have an ongoing need for assistance. Another option is for temporary services, such as during rehabilitation after a hospital stay. One level of services is not dependent upon the other. Some elderly individuals may not have medical issues and would only have a need for a caregiver’s services. Perhaps a senior has the need for the medical services, but family members manage their personal care services on their own. Whatever the situation may be, a suitable solution can be found that will meet and exceed the needs of all clients utilizing ‘in home’ care services.
We at Advanta Home Care provide all the above care and assistance to San Diego, La Mesa and El Cajon areas and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Tags: el cajon, elderly home care, in home care, la mesa, san diego
Nobody likes to exercise, but the doctors say we should do it anyway. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be a chore. In fact, it doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out process at all. Elderly care clients do not need any fancy equipment to establish an exercise routine. There are several ways that the care provider can make simple exercises fun and enjoyable for their senior home care clients.
Walking
Walking is the perfect low-impact, low-stress on the body exercise for ambulatory seniors. Taking a stroll through the neighborhood, local park, or shopping center can be very beneficial to seniors and at home care providers alike. It’s also a great way to find topics of conversation between the clients and care providers. Wheelchair-bound clients who do not utilize electric chairs can also benefit from going on a walk with their caregivers, provided there is suitable and safe terrain for doing so.
In San Diego there is no shortage of senior home care activites, La Mesa and El Cajon too, so even a visit to a local tourist site or museum on an outing is still exercise.
Music and Dancing
Music is another great alternative for elderly clients to enjoy exercising. Some may have a collection of music they enjoy listening to, but haven’t been able to do so in a while. Not only can music get them moving along in time to the beat, but it also gives them a chance to recall some of their favorite memories some of the songs might have inspired. If the senior home care client is physically able to, care providers should encourage dancing and movement along with the music. For the elderly who are not mobile enough to do so, opt for some of the armchair exercises below.
Armchair Exercises
There is a variety of exercises that immobile seniors are able to do from the comfort of their arm chairs or wheelchairs. Bending, arm lifts, and leg lifts are perfect examples of these. Stronger clients may use books or other lightweight items as small weights when doing the arm lifts.
Playing Catch
Tossing a beach ball back and forth is a great way for seniors to both get exercise and strengthen motor skill function as well.
Stationary Bikes
If the seniors have access to a stationary bicycle, this is another low-impact, low-stress on the body exercise option.
Before allowing any assisted living client to engage in an exercise program, the care provider should seek and obtain direct approval from the client’s nurse or health care provider. Additionally, the caregiver should always keep a watchful eye on the seniors in their care to make sure they are not exhibiting signs of distress or exertion during the exercise and halt all activity immediately, if they begin to do so.
Tags: activities, Add new tag, care providers, el cajon, elderly home care, exercises, la mesa, san diego, senior home care
One very important task that caregivers in the elderly care sector are faced with is deciding whether or not a client will be safe in the interim between scheduled visits. Since caregivers are often the only person seniors in assisted living programs interact with on a regular basis, the burden of responsibility lies with them. There are many factors that should be taken into consideration when determining if elders are able to function safely and efficiently in the absence of their care providers.
Medical Conditions
Does the client have any life-threatening medical conditions that may bring on seizures or other medical emergencies at any given time? Is the senior able to self-medicate in a correct dosage, if need be? Are they equipped with a personal medical alert alarm?
Personal Care
Are they able to go to the bathroom without assistance, change their clothes in case of an accident, and tend to other basic hygiene functions on their own? Feeding, cooking, and food consumption also fall under this category. Is the elder able to prepare their own food if they get hungry? Can they be trusted to remember the dangers of fire and leaving cooking food unattended? If the senior has a special diet to follow, such as a low sodium intake or a diabetic menu, will they adhere to its guidelines and be able to make the correct food choices?
Mindset and Emotions
When left alone for an extended period of time, some elderly people often get confused or scared. These emotions can be heightened by underlying medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Do they have someone to call if they get scared? Will they go outside? If they do find their way outside, will they be able to find their way back home?
Emergencies and Other dangers
Being vulnerable to break-ins is a major concern in the senior population. Will the client know what to do in case of an emergency? In case of an emergency, will they be able to dial the phone and summon assistance from 9-1-1 or emergency service professionals? In the event of a fire, does the senior know where all of the escape routes are in the home? Is the home equipped with an alarm system?
Often times, the caregiver is the client’s lifeline to getting the information that they need in order to remain as self-sufficient as they can for as long as they can. Knowing all of these things is imperative to ensure the safety of seniors in elderly care programs.
Emergency Services
Luckily for our clients living in the San Diego, El Cajon and La Mesa areas they are all protected by the quality national emergency services, and for that we are grateful.
Tags: care providers, caregivers, el cajon, elderly home care, la mesa, safety, san diego
A caregiver’s job should, foremost, be to make the client feel comfortable in their company. Establishing a bond and a certain level of trust between the caregiver and elder goes along way to improve their relationship. A successful relationship will ensure the senior receives the best experience possible with the home care services being provided. The key is to make the client feel at ease in his or her provider’s care with the assurance that they are receiving the very best in elderly home care, be it in home care or visits to assisted living facilities.
The easiest way to achieve this goal is for the caregiver to first be a friend to their client, instead of just a care provider. Most of the time, much of the client’s fear, stress, and apprehension can be relieved just by taking the time to listen to their concerns. It is imperative for caregivers in the elderly care sector to address their clients’ concerns with compassion, understanding, and reassurance. This goes a long way in setting the stage for a long and successful client/care provider relationship.
Many times, clients in senior home care programs may feel isolated from the rest of the world and their caregiver is the only company they can rely on. Clients look forward to being able to share their day with someone and enjoy having an ear around to listen. Elderly clients have ideas and stories and opinions just like the rest of us and they also enjoy interacting with people to express those things – just like the rest of us. They have good days and bad days and sometimes just need a shoulder to cry on. The elderly still want people to laugh at their jokes and reminisce with them about the good old days. Some times, just sitting with the clients and chatting can be the best thing an in home care provider can do. Other times, clients may not want to talk at all, but knowing someone is there should they decide to is quite comforting.
Success happens when a client feels comfortable enough with their care provider that they can open up and share anything with them, knowing that, whatever it may be, it’s between two friends. The ultimate client/caregiver relationships are the kind that the clients look forward to, instead of dreading and that the caregivers see as spending time with a dear friend instead of a job.
If you live in the San Diego, La Mesa, El Cajon or surrounding areas come and find a friend with us today.
Tags: caregivers, el cajon, elderly home care, friends, la mesa, relationships, san diego, senior care
