Your elderly mother still lives alone in the house you grew up in. Mom’s health hasn’t been the greatest lately, so you’ve been trying to help her out when you have time. But with your job and household to manage, burning the candle at both ends is starting to wear you down. After considering your options, you’ve decided that it might be best to hire a mom as a professional home caregiver. But where do you start Finding the right in-home caregiver for an aging loved one can be challenging. Taking these steps should help simplify your search.  

Assess Your Loved One’s Needs

You’ll need to sit down and compile a list of your loved one’s daily and weekly caregiving needs. Here are some points to consider:

Mobility

How ambulatory are they Do they need assistance negotiating stairs or getting up and down?

Mental state

Do they have any type of cognitive impairment, like dementia or Alzheimer’s, that places them at risk in the home?

Transportation

Can they still safely operate a motor vehicle During a typical week, where does your loved one need to go?

Specific duties

What activities of daily living do they need assistance with Those might include bathing, toileting, cooking, housework, dressing, exercising, medication management, and food shopping.

Physical limitations

Do they have any other physical limitations, like a swallowing impairment, vision or hearing loss, or incontinence?

Personality

Is your loved one stubborn and short-tempered, or are they easygoing and personable Finding a professional caregiver with personality traits that compliment your senior is important.

Language barriers

Is your loved one’s primary language something other than English Do they suffer from aphasia due to a stroke or other medical condition that makes communicating difficult?

Insurance

Medicare and Medicaid typically don’t cover home care services, but some long-term care and life insurance policies do. Find out if your loved one has an LTC insurance policy that will help cover the costs.

Once your “laundry list” is ready, it’s time to explore your professional home caregiver options.

Screen Potential Caregivers

Caregiver qualities you should look for include experience, trustworthiness, and compassion. You can use a home health registry to search for a private independent caregiver or work with a licensed home care agency instead. Here are some ways to get started:

• Discuss the situation first with your senior and immediate family members.
• Get word-of-mouth referrals from trusted sources like friends, family members, or coworkers.
• Seek referrals from medical professionals who are familiar with your loved one’s health condition, including doctors, discharge planners, nurses, and social workers.
• Look online for professional home caregivers in your area and read their client reviews.
• Post a want ad on Craig’s List, LinkedIn or Facebook.
• Check with your local Area Agency on Aging.

Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a handful of candidates, you’ll then need to personally interview each one. Make sure to ask them about:

• Experience and training
• Client references
• Insurance
• Holding a valid driver’s license
• A backup plan if they can’t make it
• Availability, including when there’s an emergency
• Their fees

As the process moves along, you should also conduct criminal and driving background checks on the candidates through municipal and federal databases. There are also online companies that will provide you with a caregiver’s background information for a fee.

Why Choose a Licensed Home Care Agency?

Licensed home care and home healthcare agencies have already done most of the groundwork for you, and their reputations are also known within the medical community. Most state-licensed agencies accept offer flexible hours, screen their caregivers thoroughly, provide ongoing staff training, have backup caregivers when needed, are insured for your protection, and are further equipped to handle special care considerations like emergencies, skilled care, and dementia.

We Provide Family Trusted Home Care for Seniors

Finding a professional home caregiver for an aging loved one can feel overwhelming. At 1776 Senior Care, we are a fully licensed and insured agency that carefully screens all our caregivers in advance so that they can keep your senior aging safely and comfortably in place right where they want to be. Our experienced aides are highly trained to perform in-home duties including light housework, personal hygiene, meals, medication reminders, transportation, and companionship.

And, all our family-trusted home care amenities can be individually combined into an affordable package to accommodate any budget! To learn more about 1776 Senior Care now, or to schedule a FREE, in-home assessment for a senior today, please visit us at: 1776seniorcare.com.

Although they share some similarities, home care and home health care are also quite different. For example, Medicare provides coverage for many home health care services, but not for home care. Whether you’re an elderly care recipient or a concerned family member, knowing how to tell the difference between home care and home health care will no doubt matter when important decisions weigh in the balance. What follows is some information that can help guide your decision-making process. 

What is Senior Home Care?

Home care services are designed to help age-in-place seniors with activities of daily living (ADLs) that they can no longer do on their own. The level of in-home care that’s provided by professional aides varies depending on the situation and ranges from grocery shopping or transportation assistance to bathing and incontinence care.

And although home care aides are trained to understand most aspects of senior care, they are usually not licensed to perform medical services.

Examples of senior home care include:

• Companionship
• Light housekeeping
• Transportation
• Food shopping, meal preparation, and meal deliveries
• Bathing, dressing, and grooming
• Toileting and incontinence care
• Bill paying or financial management assistance
• Medication reminders

Who Might Benefit from Home Care?

In general, otherwise, active older adults who might benefit from home care services include those who:

• Need transportation to and from activities and medical appointments
• Need help with cleaning, cooking, and other household responsibilities
• Feel lonely and isolated in situations when companionship might be beneficial
• Need assistance with personal care

What is Home Health Care?

It is clinical, medical supervision that’s provided by a licensed healthcare professional like a nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, or social worker. Home health care services are usually delivered through home health agencies or, in rarer instances, by hospice agencies.

Oftentimes referred to as “skilled” care, and may include these services:

• Wound care and dressing changes
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Administration of prescription medications or shots
• Medical testing
• Monitoring of the recipient’s health status

When Might Home Health Care Be Ordered?

Home health care is usually ordered by a doctor as part of an overall health care program following a hospital stay or serious injury.

Elderly individuals who might benefit from home health care include those who:

• Have recently been discharged from the hospital, a skilled nursing facility, or a rehabilitation center
• Need monitoring after a recent medication change
• Are in fragile health that prevents them from safely traveling to and from appointments
• Are experiencing an overall decline in function and who might benefit from therapy to regain their independence

Who Pays for Senior In-Home Care?

Home health care falls under the medical services umbrella, while home care does not, so insurance providers tend to cover each type differently. Here are some general insurance guidelines to help you during the planning process:

Medicare and private insurance

These plans cover home health services when prescribed by a doctor. Home health care coverage is available to any senior who qualifies for Medicare insurance.

Medicaid

This covers both types of in-home care for income-qualified seniors, although coverage amounts vary by state.

Long-term care (LTC) insurance

If you have an LTC insurance policy it may provide at least some coverage for home care services.

Using a Holistic Caregiving Approach

Some families find that combining both types of in-home services is the best way to maintain their aging loved one’s quality of life- for example after a lengthy hospital stay. Under this holistic caregiving approach, healthcare professionals provide essential medical care, while home care aides assist with ADLs- combining their efforts to ensure that the senior’s physical, mental and emotional needs are being met.

Meeting All the Care Needs of Families We Serve

At 1776 Senior Care, we provide reliable home care services for aging-in-place seniors, backed by a compassionate approach that’s designed to maintain both qualities of life and peace of mind. As a fully licensed and insured home care agency, our carefully screened aides perform duties ranging from personal care, companionship, and light housework, to transportation, meals, and medication reminders.

We also accept most insurance plans, including Medicare, Medicaid, and LTC insurance. To learn more about 1776 Senior Care now, or to schedule a FREE in-home assessment for a senior in our service area, please visit us today at: 1776seniorcare.com!