Professional senior home care providers offer a variety of services to help your aging loved one stay independent while receiving the assistance they need. As you search for a home care agency, you will find that there are a broad range of senior care services available. So, which should you choose? Whether your loved one needs in-home support with daily activities or medical assistance, the following information can help you decide which senior home care services are right for your family.
Home Care vs. Home Health Care
It’s important to first understand the differences between home care and home health care. While the terms are often used interchangeably, home care offers non-clinical assistance while home health care provides clinical services.
What is Home Care?
If your loved one needs support with daily activities and not in-home healthcare services, then senior home care can be an ideal solution. Senior home care providers can go by many titles such as senior care companions and personal home care aides. When employed by a senior home health care agency, these in-home caregivers typically offer their services under the supervision of licensed nurses.
What is Home Health Care?
When your loved one wants to remain comfortable in their own surroundings but requires specialized health services for an illness or injury, then home health care can often be a good choice. Home health care providers come in many forms such as nurses, home health aides, and physical, occupational, or speech therapists. Home health care services are designed to eventually help seniors regain as much self-sufficiency as possible.
Types of Senior Home Care Services
There are many types of in-home senior care providers and each offers different services to help seniors remain independent in their own homes. A reputable home care provider will work to customize a plan that meets your loved one’s unique needs.
- Companion Home Care: Senior companions can help your loved one experience regular conversation and ongoing company to alleviate feelings of seclusion and loneliness. An in-home companion can do this by providing the following services:
- Conversation for mental stimulation
- Assistance with errands and shopping
- Transportation to appointments
- Laundry assistance
- Support with household chores
- Support with hobbies and activities
- Attending social engagements and visiting friends
- Personal Home Care: In-home personal care services can help support your loved one in daily non-medical tasks and routines. These services are ideal for someone who simply needs a little bit of personal assistance to help them remain safe and enjoy their daily routines. Personal caregivers offer the following types of services:
- Help with general day-to-day living
- Assistance completing non-medical tasks
- Grooming and personal hygiene care
- Shopping assistance
- In-home companionship
Types of Senior Home Health Care Services
Home health care providers offer a wide range of clinical services that are designed to keep your loved one comfortable in familiar surroundings. Whether they are unable to leave home without assistance, are recovering from a medical procedure, or adjusting to a new diagnosis or medication, a senior home health care provider will work with you to devise an in-home care plan to meet your loved ones needs.
- Home Health Nurse: Home health nurses expertly care for your loved one’s medical needs, so they don’t have to visit a health care or assisted living facility. A home health nurse can provide the following types of clinical care and many others at home:
- Medication review and education
- Diabetes care
- Respiratory care
- Colostomy care
- Wound care
- Injections
- Intravenous or nutrition therapy
- IV lines (starting, maintaining, discontinuing)
- Pain control and symptom management
- Monitoring of care and progress of serious illnesses and conditions
- Teaching self-monitoring techniques
- Patients and caregiver education
- Medical care coordination with physicians and other specialists
- Home Health Aides: If your loved one needs assistance with daily living plus minor medical support, a home health aide can provide companionship and basic medical skills. These types of services are ideal for someone who needs help with basic health care but doesn’t need full medical or nursing services. Home health aides often provide the following services and other day-to-day assistance:
- Bathing assistance and other help with grooming routines
- Toileting support
- Assistance with standing up or transferring from a chair to a walker or wheelchair
- Help with meals and eating plus nutrition support
- Monitoring vital signs
- Medication reminders
- Home Health Physical Therapy: If your loved one needs help with movement, increasing mobility, pain reduction or strength restoration following an illness or surgery, an in-home geriatric physical therapist can provide support for:
- Body and joint pain
- Incontinence
- Osteoarthritis
- Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s side effects
- Help restoring function and coordination after a stroke
- Strengthening muscles after convalescence or a long illness
- Assistance with recovery from injuries such as falls
- Many other conditions and illnesses
- Home Health Occupational Therapy: Home health occupational therapists help seniors restore daily activity. If your loved one needs to re-learn tasks such as bathing, cooking or cleaning, home health OT could be ideal. Home health occupational therapy services often include the following:
- Help with preventing falls
- Modifying a home for safety purposes
- Coming up with new strategies for daily challenges (getting dressed, moving around the home, etc.)
- Support through transitions after illnesses, injuries, or strokes
- Help with identifying struggles that inhibit self-reliance
- Lifestyle redesign to promote better mobility and health
- Home Health Speech Therapy: A home health speech therapist can help your loved one restore their ability to speak or swallow. After enduring illnesses such as cancer or strokes, seniors sometimes need to re-learn how to communicate. Home health speech therapy services can help and aid your loved one with the following:
- Help with speaking or communicating after a stroke
- Alleviating choking or difficulty swallowing
- Help with memory issues and cognitive function to keep language skills sharp
- Retraining facial muscles following a stroke or head/neck/mouth cancer
- Strategizing new ways to communicate following a head injury
- Home Health Social Workers: A home health social worker will act as a liaison between your family and loved one’s team of doctors. These professionals provide advice on what to do next after an illness or accident, counsel patients and provide appropriate health care recommendations, and support patients with serious or chronic medical conditions. Home health social workers provide the following services and more:
- Communicate between healthcare providers, your loved one, and you
- Offer recommendations following life or health changes (retirement, illness death of spouse, etc.)
- Counsel patients on end-of-life scenarios
- Offer insight on when it is wise to use other home health care services
- Identify local programs to support a patient’s health and wellbeing
- Coordinate transportation to and from hospitals
In-Home Senior Care Services in Akron, Ohio
Choosing the right senior home care services can help your aging loved one remain comfortable in their own home for longer. My Family Home Health Care helps seniors in Akron, Ohio maintain their independence by providing qualified, capable, and compassionate senior home care. Whether you need a home health nurse, home health aide, in-home companion, or personal care you can count on My Family to ensure your family is safe and comfortable. Contact us for a home health care assessment today.