Home Care Providers
Who bears the primary responsibility for home care?
The family and the older adult bears the primary responsbility for home care.
What is a full-service home care agency?
A full-service home care agency would be an agency that would provide both the skilled care and the custodial or non medical care. They may even provide the medical equipment that goes along with that.
Does hospital-affiliation mean a home care agency is a better choice?
Hospital-affiliation doesn't have too much to do with the quality of the home care. Generally, what happens when there is a hospital-affiliation, in my experience, they do get it as a fee generator for the hospital, and it really is out of the loop of what's generally done at a hospital because they're using different licensing and criteria.
Why should I know the different titles for the many types of home care personnel?
It's important to know the different titles and types of home care personnel to assure that you get the person who has the skills to do the tasks you need.
What's the benefit of employing a home care agency rather than hiring individual providers?
The benefits for hiring a home care agency as opposed to individual providers are several. And I think probably a family can do it on their own. A home care agency is equipped to do things like screening beforehand. A good home care agency will do tuberculosis testing which we don't think about unless there's a problem with it; they'll do criminal background checks, reference checks. Other things that are advantage of a home care agency, that if there is a problem with one person, you can find replacements in an easy manner. It's very, very, common for people to find one wonderful in home care provider independently that is their dream. The problem is the number, typically for an older adult, the time they need somebody starts increasing. And that wonderful person isn't available at night so they bring in their families or their friends, or somebody they met at the bus stop and it gets out of control. They are not there for emergencies. A reliable home care agency will have somebody on call 24/7 so if there is a problem at night, they can take care of it. The other thing, and I think probably as much as important as the skill set and the availability of a care worker, is the individual characteristics of that care worker and the family member. So when you have a large pool to choose from, you not only are choosing someone that can do the task, that can make sure to bathe Mom and make her meals the way she like it, but maybe has the extroverted personality that she wants as a companion, or knows how to be quiet and goes in the other room when she's not needed, depending on the individual preferences of that family.
What services does a registered nurse provide?
A registered nurse provides the skills that her license allows. So that can be everything from giving injections to doing blood pressure, to doing the kinds of things associated with curing and making someone better, generally in an acute environment.
What is a home care aide?
A home care aide is somebody that's probably gone through about six weeks of training to take care of the basic personal care needs. The good news about that is that they may have been given some instruction on how to lift or transfer, or giving baths, and some of the basics on understanding dementia care. But a home care aide is in no way similar in skill set to a licensed vocational nurse or a registered nurse or a physician.
What services does a home care aide provide?
Home care aide will provide the services around the house. They may assist with dressing, serving meals, taking somebody out on errands and doing light housekeeping around the house. They are limited in what they are allowed to do. Again, because California isn't a licensed state, I am not exactly sure. I know there is a difference between a home care aide and those services. We have an office in Minneapolis and I know they are much more restricted than we are in California. Some of those personal care needs are probably not allowed to do. I don't know exactly, because they vary from state to state.
How can a social worker help me with home care planning?
A social worker can be a great help in home care planning because they know the community resources. Like a physician knows the medical, they may know the pills to give you and the operations to take and the skilled people to use. The social worker is used to working with systems that involve the day care situations, the assisted living facilities, the public benefits that may be helpful, as well as the gamut of other resources available for the older adult.
What are community based health care services?
There are several community based in-home services. Because the federal government through the Older American Act has designated senior centres in every city or county throughout the country, a good starting point to find various community services as those senior centres. And that can include anything from activities in the community, exercise classes, educational classes, to congregant meals, to home delivered meals in the home. For some they will pay for some of the in-home services, a small amount of in-home services, and provide social workers to do oversight and to do initial assessments for people, particularly those that are socially isolated or low income.
What is adult day care?
Adult day care are day services that can provide full day care for the physically and cognitively, or psychologically impaired. They can vary from community to community, but basically they can provide respite for families, and also an abundance of activity to socialize the person that can't do it independently on their own.
What is respite care?
Respite care is care that is provided to the older adult so that family caregivers can get a break. Most of the time it is home care programs, or it can be day care programs. Once in a while, a family will use an assisted living as a respite facility so that they can go out of town and go on a vacation and not have to worry.
How can hiring a companion help my parent?
Many older adults, because they become frail or they become forgetful, become very socially isolated. Having a companion with like interests, or who can support their interests or listen, can make all the difference between somebody becoming extremely depressed and somebody having a very positive aging experience.
