Five Ways In-Home Care Supports Independence Independence is essential for anyone, including the elderly, to feel confident and competent. Independence is so important, in fact, that stripping it away can lead to illness and depression. This is part of what makes finding care for an aging loved one so difficult: They often equate caregiving with a loss of their independence. The truth, however, is that in-home care can actually support their independence and allow them to live on their own longer. Following are five of the ways it does so.
In-home care can be tailored to your loved one's needs. When you hire an in-home caregiver to assist your aging loved one, you typically hire them to take on a specific set of responsibilities. For instance, you may hire a personal care assistant to help your loved one with personal grooming, transportation, shopping, or housecleaning. You may hire a nurse to help them with medical care after a hospital stay, or a physical therapist to help them improve their mobility. Instead of hiring someone to take over all of their day-to-day care (as would occur in a nursing home or assisted living facility), you hire someone only to manage those things that your loved one can no longer do for themselves.
Because you can tailor caregiving services to the specific needs of your loved one, you leave your loved one free to do everything else for themselves. For instance, a personal care assistant may provide transportation to the grocery store, while your loved one does the shopping and the cooking. The medication aide may oversee the medication regimen, while your loved one takes care of other aspects of their personal routine. The result is that your loved one maintains as much independence as possible while receiving the support they require. In-home care allows your loved one to remain at home. In-home care also encourages independence by allowing your loved one to remain in their home. Residential caregiving facilities, due to the extensive nature of the care they provide, often cause a loss of independence. For instance, residents generally lose the freedom to come and go as they please, prepare their own meals, eat on their own schedule, etc. While this level of care is sometimes necessary, many elderly people can succeed at home and care for themselves with the right support.
Home health care services give your loved one this support. With the caregiver helping your loved one when necessary, a residential care facility often becomes unnecessary. Instead, your loved one remains at home, with its freedom and flexibility, for far longer than would otherwise have been possible. The result is greater independence and, with it, greater satisfaction and an improved sense of well being for your loved one. In-home care encourages physical activity. As your loved one's body ages, they will experience a reduction in their physical ability that may impair their independence. For instance, as mobility declines, so does one's ability to walk, drive, garden, go up and down stairs, bathe and dress oneself, etc. Instead of simply taking over these responsibilities, in-home care will also encourage physical activity and exercise that will delay physical decline and the further deterioration of your loved one's independence.
There are many ways in which an in-home caregiver can encourage physical activity, even if they are not a physical therapist. For instance, the caregiver may be able to introduce your loved one to certain activities approved by their doctor. The caregiver may also be able to provide companionship and moral support that will make the difference between your loved one sticking to an exercise routine and giving it up. The caregiver may even be able to find creative ways to keep your loved one moving, like encouraging gardening, walks, and dancing. As your loved one's physical health improves, their ability to care for themselves will improve as well. In-home care promotes social engagement. Caregivers in Texas also provide a way to keep your loved one socially engaged. Often, as an elderly person faces deteriorating mobility or other age-related problems, they become unable or unwilling to engage in their normal activities. The result can be isolation and loneliness. This isolation can create feelings of despair and unhappiness, and limit your loved one's ability to do the things they once enjoyed.
An in-home caregiver can help to prevent this isolation by enabling your loved one to engage in their regular activities. They can drive your loved one to friends' houses or social engagements. They can help your loved one prepare to have friends over. They can even provide companionship and support themselves. When your loved one receives the kind of social stimulation and support they need to remain happy, they are more likely to remain physically and mentally healthy and capable of doing things for themselves.
In-home care keeps your loved one's mind stimulated. Finally, in-home care can contribute to the independence of your loved one by keeping their mind stimulated. As your loved one's mental faculties decline, they will become less able to care for themselves. As a result, the sharper you can keep their minds, the longer you can enable their independence. The caregiver you hire will be able to provide mental stimulation in a variety of ways. For instance, they can play word games and crossword puzzles with your loved one. They can also provide a social outlet and source of conversation that will keep your loved one mentally engaged and, consequently, more independent.
Hiring one of the caregivers in the Austin area does not have to spell the end of independence for your loved one. Instead, doing so can actually contribute to their continued independence. By allowing your loved one to do what they can, providing them with the ability to remain in their own home, and keeping their mind and body active and stimulated, in-home care can encourage and maintain your loved one's independence far longer than may otherwise have been possible.