CHOOSING A HOMECARE COMPANY

Does my loved one need help?

In today’s world, care giving can be very challenging for the following reasons:

• People are living longer, often with chronic disabilities or functional limitations.
• People wish to maintain as much independence, dignity and control, as possible.
• Family members may not always be available to provide the care because of distance, work commitments and other family responsibilities.
• Family relationships are not always conducive to care giving because of unresolved issues or different opinions about the best ways to meet the needs.
• Families often have multiple caregiving responsibilities at the same time-i.e. for self, elders, children and grandchildren.
• Coping with health changes, losses, disabilities, and functional limitations can be emotionally draining and very time consuming.
• The health and social service delivery systems are fragmented, confusing and difficult to access.
• It is especially difficult to assure that all of the different parts of the medical system are working in coordination with one another.
• The family may not be prepared emotionally, or because of distance to care for the elder.

For all these reasons the CARE MANAGER can be the one individual who guides and coordinates all the care components and helps family stay involved, at whatever level is appropriate for each family.

Home care services should be tailored to meet each person’s unique needs. When selecting home care services, the list below can assist in understanding a person’s behavior and help you determine the type of care needed, while still providing them with independence and dignity.

• Managing finances: Are bills being paid late or being forgotten altogether?
• Errands: Are running simple errands, such as grocery shopping, doctor appointments or a trip to pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy becoming a challenge?
• Post surgery: Managing even the simplest daily activities after coming home from the hospital after surgery can be a challenge.
• Memory loss/Dementia: A gradual or sudden loss of memory and language skills may result in evasive answers in an attempt to cover the inability to remember words, places and people.
• Diminished hearing: Your loved ones don’t always answer the phone or takes a long time to pick up when you call… even though they’d always answered with no problems before.
• Diminished sight: Is your loved one experiencing falls? Have you noticed a hesitance in his or her walk?
• Falls: Unexplained bruises, often accompanied by explanations for cuts, bruises or broken bones that don’t ring true.
• Incontinence: Clothing stains; odors emanating from furniture, clothing or automobile seats.
• Self neglect: Poor eating habits and inadequate nutrition/hydration; failure or inability to follow through on physician’s instructions, medicine dosages, etc.
• Won’t bathe: It could simply be that they are afraid or not able to get into the bath and are too embarrassed to ask for help.
• Resists doing things that he/she always liked: Such as playing cards, singing or dancing. This could be a sign of depression, or a sign that the capability to do these activities is slipping. The inability to do what they used to do can trigger depression. 
• Won’t get out of bed: This could be a sign that they don’t feel well, but can also be a symptom of depression.
• Won’t take his/her medicine: They might be experiencing some side effects to a medication. Check with the doctor or a pharmacist as to what the possible side effects are of the medicine they are resisting and then check for these side effects. 
• Makes excuses not to attend family or other special events they used to enjoy: Investigate if there is something about the physical environment that bothers them – too much noise, harsh smells or whether the temperature is too hot or cold.