Category: Home Care

It’s not a secret that seniors these days overwhelmingly want to stay in their own homes as they get older. But often seniors and their families worry about something happening while they are alone. 24-hour home care for seniors makes it possible for seniors to stay at home safely as they get older. When seniors have 24-hour home care they get the benefits of having someone with them all day and all night. The benefits of daytime care for seniors are obvious, but there are some big benefits seniors can get from overnight and 24-hour home care like:

Safety

Seniors who are not alone at night are safer in many cases. When criminals target seniors because they think that seniors will be easy to steal from they assume seniors will be alone at night. Seniors who have 24-hour home care have someone with them at night which makes it much less likely that seniors will be targeted by thieves. Seniors also are going to be safer from disasters like storms or fires if they are not alone at night. If the power goes out or there is some type of disaster a companion who is there at night can help seniors get to safety.

Companionship

Seniors often get lonely at night if they are by themselves. Many seniors who have lost their spouse or partner feel that loss the most at night. During the day it’s common for seniors to have visits by friends and family members, phone calls, and social engagements that mean they don’t really feel lonely. But at night the loneliness can feel oppressive. Seniors with 24-hour home care will have someone with them at night that they can watch TV with, have conversations with, and share a snack with so that they don’t feel so alone or anxious.

Lower Risk Of Falls

Many times when seniors falls it’s during the nighttime when they get up to use the bathroom or get a drink. Seniors who have been in bed for a long time often are stiff and sore and may have trouble walking which can lead them to fall. They also could be half asleep or under the influence of sleeping medications that can make them groggy and that can lead to falls also. And poor lighting can impact their field of vision making it tough to see obstructions in their path. But when seniors have someone with them at night that person can help them get up to go to the bathroom or bring them a drink in bed so that they don’t have to get up.

Better Quality Of Sleep

Seniors who have insomnia or trouble sleeping often have a better quality of sleep and get more sleep when they are not alone at night. Seniors often worry about what would happen to them if they have a medical emergency at night or what will happen if medical equipment they need like a CPAP stops working at night. But seniors who have 24-hour home care don’t need to worry because there will always be someone there that can help them.

If you or an aging loved one is considering 24-hour home care in Edina, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

While your mom admits she needs help, she’s nervous about having others assist her. Why is she so hesitant to arrange home care services when she needs them? What can you do about it?

She’s Afraid She’ll Lose Her Independence

Your mom’s biggest fear with home care services is that she loses her independence. That’s not the case. Her caregiver actually keeps her safe, which preserves her independence. If she were to fall and break a hip, that’s more likely to rob her of her independence.

She Doesn’t Want to Admit She’s Getting Older

Your mom hates the thought of getting older. She wants to retain her youthful ways. The best way to feel young at heart is by making sure she’s getting enough exercise, eating right, and seeing her doctor.

She Worries About Having to Rely on a Stranger

Your mom’s biggest fear is that she is going to have to depend on a stranger. It’s one thing to have to lean on family members, but strangers are different. She’s worried about what they’ll think of her. Caregivers have seen it all and aren’t going to think anything negative of her.

She Feels She’ll Get Bossed Around

Your mom is convinced that her caregiver is going to boss her around. She’s going to be told what to do, when to do it, and get scolded if she doesn’t. That’s not how home care works. Her caregiver is her employee. If she’s having difficulty accepting help, her caregiver can move to the next task until your mom is ready to complete the others.

She Has No Idea That Care Plans Are Customized to Her Needs

Your mom worries that she’s going to have a set plan. She loves to cook, but she worries that her caregiver will take over because meal preparation is on the list of services. Make sure she realizes that care plans are customized to her exact needs.

Before you even call a specialist in home care, go over the things your mom likes to do on her own. What does she need help to complete? The things she needs help with are the tasks she would have a caregiver help her with each week.

She Only Wants Family Members Helping

Your mom may only want you and other family members to help. You need to be honest with her. If you’re working 40 hours a week and don’t have time to clean her home and do the laundry after work, tell her.

Once you’ve reassured your mom that her independence and privacy are important to her caregiver, start gathering a list of questions. Ask your mom about the things she has a hard time completing on her own and schedule those home care services to ensure she has a helping hand.

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Edina, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

As a family caregiver, you probably spend a good bit of time wondering if your senior needs more care or a different type of care than she has in place. One option, 24-hour home care, might seem like too much for her, but is it really? There are plenty of situations that might benefit from this type of care.

Help Around the Clock

The first hurdle in understanding whether this type of care is right for your senior or not is to get to know what it is. This type of care means that there is someone there with your elderly family member at all hours of the day. There might be several different caregivers taking various shifts, but there will be someone there with your senior at all times. That can be tremendously reassuring, both for you and for your elderly family member.

Assistance with Daily Tasks

One reason your senior might want help from 24-hour home care professionals is that she needs help with daily tasks. These types of tasks can cover a lot of ground, too. If your senior needs help with eating, for instance, she might want to have help with cooking her meals, making sure that her fridge is stocked, and even helping with actually eating her meal. Other types of tasks that could require this type of day and night help can involve personal care tasks, like getting dressed and transferring from bed to a chair, and even assistance with mobility.

Support for Disabled Seniors

If your elderly family member is disabled, she may need a lot of additional help from elder care professionals around the clock. Some of the disabilities that your senior might find limiting her life could involve trouble with mobility or cognitive changes, like dementia. When there is someone there with your senior every day, all day, she’s got help as soon as she needs it. During the times when she doesn’t need help, caregivers aren’t trying to do everything for her. She’ll only have the help she needs. In the ways she can still be independent, she’s able to maintain that independence.

Help with Chronic Illness

Chronic illnesses can take a serious toll on your senior’s health and well-being. Battling COPD or heart disease each day takes a lot out of your elderly family member. When home care professionals are there with her, they are able to handle tasks that have become more of a challenge for her. That allows her to rest and do what she can when she can. During times when your elderly family member is less able to do things for herself, she has help. There’s also the peace of mind that you get knowing that your senior has someone there with her if she runs into any sort of problem.

There are lots of other benefits to having someone there with your senior at all hours, especially if she has more difficulty overnight. In terms of determining when 24-hour home care is truly necessary, it helps to look closely at what your senior’s needs are and how those can best be met.

If you or an aging loved one is considering 24-hour home care in Plymouth, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

What do you know about home care? The goal of a caregiver is to ensure your dad has the support he needs to age at home without struggling. Check out what you should know about home care aides.

They Help Without Taking Over

The most important thing to know about home care is that the caregivers are there to support your dad. They are not there to take over and do everything for him. He has a helping hand with the difficult daily tasks, and other chores are his to do as he pleases.

Social Visits Are One of the Most Popular Services

One of the most important parts of home care services is companion care. Caregivers arrive as scheduled to keep your dad company. He has the chance to socialize with someone each week or as often as you request companion care.

While his caregiver visits, he has someone to accompany him when running errands, play cards with him on a rainy or snowy day, or join him on walks around his neighborhood. His caregiver can also watch a movie with him, join him for a meal, or take him to a senior center for community events.

Replacements Are Dispatched If Your Dad’s Caregiver Is Sick or Delayed

If you’ve arranged caregiver services, don’t worry about your dad being left alone on days his caregiver is scheduled. A replacement caregiver is dispatched to your dad’s home until his regular caregiver can get to his house or recover from an illness.

Medication Reminders Are Offered

Home care providers help your dad remember when it’s time to take his prescription pills. They can also help him track when it’s time to schedule refills.

What they can’t do is administer medications that are injectable or administered through IVs. Home health nurses would be needed for care needs of that nature.

Home Care Providers Help With Housework and Laundry

Your dad’s house is kept clean and organized. His caregiver can vacuum the carpets, sweep hardwood, tile, or plank flooring, and dust. Dishes are washed, dried, and put away. All of his hard surfaces like sinks, counters, and appliance handles are wiped clean, too.

Once a week, or as often as you request, caregivers can do your dad’s laundry, change his sheets and towels, make his bed, and wash his clothing. When it’s clean and dried, his caregiver can fold or hang items and put them away.

The best way to ensure your dad remains independent as he ages is to make sure he’s supported. Caregivers can help him with harder daily tasks, but he’s in his home and doesn’t have to move or downsize. Talk to a home care specialist to learn more about home care services in your area.

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Woodbury, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, can be very hard on seniors. Long dark days without a lot of sunlight in the winter can leave seniors vulnerable to developing Seasonal Affective Disorder. But 24-hour home care can help those who are struggling with SAD.

Because one of the contributing factors to developing SAD is the lack of sunlight seniors who feel anxious or vulnerable at night can benefits from having 24-hour home care. When they have 24-hour home care, seniors have company around the clock so they don’t feel alone, scared, or anxious when night falls the way they might feel if they were alone.

Some of the other benefits of 24-hour home care for seniors include:

Medical Monitoring

Seniors who use medical equipment often get anxious at night about their equipment working correctly and that can impact the quality and length of their sleep. With overnight care, seniors can sleep better knowing that someone will always be there to help them if they need it or if their equipment malfunctions. The security of knowing that someone is there in the middle of the night can dramatically improve senior’s mental health.

Helping Seniors Get Safely In And Out Of Bed

One of the most dangerous things that seniors can do is try to get out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or get a drink and get back in bed safely. Often when seniors fall at home it’s trying to get themselves out of bed in the middle of the night. With home care, your senior parent will have help all through the night to make sure that they can get to the bathroom safely even though they are half asleep.

Meals Anytime

Seniors may not always want to eat at usual times. That’s part of the reason why seniors often don’t get enough to eat. With 24-hour home care there will be someone with your senior loved one around the clock who make them a meal or a snack at any time of the day or night. Your senior parent will be able to get snacks or meals when they want to eat which will encourage them to eat more.

Company During Long Winter Nights

When the weather is bad and the sun goes down early the winter evenings can be very long for seniors who are alone. Those long winter evenings and nights can make seniors depressed or increase their anxiety. With the help of elder care around the clock, your senior loved one won’t be alone during those winter evenings. They will have a companion that they can watch TV with, play games with, eat meals with, and read books with. Those winter evenings could turn into fun evenings instead of sad evenings when your senior parent has someone there with them around the clock.

If you or an aging loved one is considering 24-hour home care in Eden Prairie, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Each year, an estimated 450,000 hip replacement surgeries are performed in the U.S. Many of these surgeries occur after a fall. Your dad fell sideways and fractured his hip. He had hip replacement surgery. What can you and home care assistance do to help him get comfortable after his surgery?

Invest in Seating He Won’t Struggle to Stand Up From

After his surgery, it may be painful when your dad sits down and stands up. Have something or someone there to help him. Aim for seating that’s firm enough that he won’t sink into it. A higher seat height also helps.

Stay on Top of Pain Medications

Your dad’s surgeon will give instructions on how often he should take ibuprofen, and it’s often cycled with acetaminophen. Track when he last took a pill and which one it was. Keep him on the alternating cycle and reduce it as the pain diminishes.

In addition to pain medications, his surgeon may recommend the use of hot and cold packs to help with inflammation and pain. You can get reusable ones that you can put in the microwave as needed.

Make Sure He Walks Around as Advised

He will also have rules on how often he should walk around. Make sure he sticks to those guidelines. If he needs a cane, supply him with one. Even if he no longer needs it in a few weeks, keep it around just in case.

Keep Up With Physical Therapy Appointments

He’ll be working with a physical therapist to improve mobility and flexibility. Help him keep track of his appointments. If he’s not supposed to drive yet, have a schedule to share with family to ensure your dad has a driver on his appointment days.

Hire Home Care Assistance to Complete Tasks He’s Been Told Not to Do Yet

Have caregivers available to help him with the tasks he’s not able to complete on his own. He may not be allowed or able to go up and down the stairs to the laundry room. Hire caregivers to change his sheets, make his bed, and do the laundry.

Home care services are also beneficial when it comes to showers. Your dad shouldn’t be showering without having someone there to hold onto as he steps in and out of the shower or tub. A shower chair can be useful in the first couple of weeks while he’s gaining strength and balance.

Home care assistance is essential as your dad recovers from hip replacement surgery. Hire caregivers to help him with housework, meals, and transportation. You can help out when you’re available, but you’re not struggling to balance work and your dad’s care needs. Call a home care assistance specialist to get started.

Sources:
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/total-hip-replacement

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care assistance in Minneapolis, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month and it can be a surprise to many people to realize that plenty of older adults deal with dyslexia. This is a condition that makes reading and some other activities a lot more difficult and in some cases impossible. So, what can you do to help your aging family member live her best life even with dyslexia? Here are a few tips and how companion care at home can help.

Understand How Dyslexia Affects Her Daily Life

Dyslexia is something that has impacted your senior’s entire life, even if she was only recently diagnosed. She may have difficulty reading, memorizing, and even managing time. Dyslexia can also contribute to mental health problems, like depression or your senior being too hard on herself all the time. It’s important to understand as much as you can how dyslexia impacts your senior so that you can put solutions in place that truly work well for her.

Break Down Tasks as Much as Possible

If your elderly family member is trying to do too much on her own, she can easily get overwhelmed. That’s especially true if dyslexia affects her ability to manage her time and interpret written instructions and information. Helping her to break down what she needs to know can reduce a lot of frustration for her.

Use Pictures or Icons Around the House

Instead of using written signs or labels, change things up and reduce the chance of frustration and misinterpretation for your elderly family member by using icons or pictures. This makes labeling containers, shelves, and anything else much more helpful for her. She won’t have to struggle nearly as much to find what she needs.

Record Audio or Video Reminders

When you need to leave reminders for your senior or communicate important information with her for later, consider recording it. Leaving her a video or audio message can ensure that she gets the information you’re trying to communicate to her without frustrating her. It’s also something that she can replay as often as she needs to.

Make Life Less Stressful in General

Life with dyslexia is already stressful enough. The more that you can do to reduce your elderly family member’s stress levels in general, the easier life is going to be for her. One way to do this is to bring in companion care at home to help with anything that is becoming a challenge for her. They’re able to tackle tasks like light housekeeping and meal preparation that might be getting more complicated for your senior.

Bring in Companion Care at Home

Something else to consider is companionship for your elderly family member. If dyslexia is complicating her life in a big way, she may find that she is more withdrawn than usual and that can lead to loneliness and isolation. Companion care at home can offer someone who is there to offer friendship, conversation, and a low-stress encounter.

Dyslexia can make everything feel more complicated for your elderly family member, but that doesn’t mean she can’t experience solutions that help her to love her life.

If you or an aging loved one is considering companion care at home in Brooklyn Park, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

If your elderly family member is suddenly dealing with a great deal of pain, it’s important to start putting together a plan for managing it. Pain is one of those things that gradually becomes worse until it’s all your elderly family member can think about, so figuring out how to make it less of a problem for her is crucial. That way she can get back to enjoying her life as much as possible.

Understand What Chronic Pain Does to Your Senior

Chronic pain is a lot more serious than many people realize. It can reduce your elderly family member’s mobility, affect her sleep, make her more prone to falling, and affect her emotionally. There are very few parts of your senior’s life that are left untouched if she is facing chronic pain. That’s why dealing with chronic pain is about more than just trying to relieve the pain.

Get to Know Your Senior’s Signs of Increased Pain

What does it look like when your aging family member’s pain is ramping up? Is she having more trouble with mobility? Or is she more irritable than usual? If your aging family member is avoiding moving or seems more lethargic than usual, pain could be behind those actions. Talk with your elderly family member about what she is experiencing and how it affects her daily life so that you have a deeper understanding of what is going on.

Talk with Her Medical Providers about Possible Relief

There might be pain relieving techniques that your senior hasn’t tried yet, especially if this pain is new for her. Talk with her doctors about what might work for her and what she could try. For some seniors, becoming more active can be helpful, but she might need more help doing that. 24-hour home care can assist your elderly family member in rebuilding her mobility safely.

Make Life Easier in General for Your Senior

It’s a good idea to do whatever you can to make life easier in general for your elderly family member. That might mean helping her to put easy menus together or even outsourcing meal preparation to 24-hour home care providers. Whatever is causing the most difficulty for your senior right now has a solution, you might just have to look at it from a different angle.

Ensure She Has Support Around the Clock

Chronic pain is something that your senior may find is starting to affect her at all hours of the day and night. It might be beneficial for her to have 24-hour home care available overnight when she’s having trouble sleeping and needs help. It’s equally helpful to have caregivers available during the day to help with transportation and other complications.

Managing pain involves coming up with a plan that is flexible enough to adapt to your senior’s situation and thorough enough to account for all of the variables she’s likely to encounter. That type of planning is a lot easier to do when you’ve got experienced help along the way.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/treating-pain-elderly

If you or an aging loved one is considering 24-hour home care in St. Paul, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Your dad lives alone, and it’s getting hard for him to manage his daily routine without a helping hand. Have you looked into senior home care services? They’re an excellent partner to an older adult’s desire to age in place.

What Do Home Care Aides Do?

A home care aide can help your dad with many of his daily tasks. If he needs help getting in and out of the bathtub for his morning shower, his caregiver is there to lend a helping hand. Once he’s showered, if he needs someone to help trim his toenails, apply skin cream, or get dressed, his caregiver is there.

When it comes to housework, a caregiver can vacuum carpets, sweep hardwood or tile floors, clean counters and sinks, and dust furnishings. His caregiver can change your dad’s bedding and towels, put things in the laundry, and make up the bed with clean sheets. When the wash is done, senior home care can fold everything and put the items away.

Does your dad still drive? If not, how often do you have to take a day off to bring him to his appointments or take him shopping? Hire a caregiver to take him to area businesses, stores, and medical offices. If your dad just wants to take a scenic drive on a sunny day, that’s always possible.

A senior home care aide can help your dad remember when it’s time to take his medications. He won’t forget to take a dose. And, his caregivers can also remind him when it’s time to order a refill. If he needs to see his doctor to get his prescription renewed, that’s also an option.

Caregivers can cook meals for your dad. If he doesn’t cook or has a hard time preparing the meats and vegetables needed for the meals he wants to eat, his caregiver can cook meals for him. They’ll plan menus together, shop for ingredients together, and make the meals and snacks. Your dad has company while he eats, too.

Companionship is a major benefit of senior home care. Your dad doesn’t have to be alone all day. His caregiver is there to watch movies with, talk to, or play games with if your dad likes playing cards or other multiplayer games.

Sit Down With Your Dad and Other Family Members

Gather the family for a talk about senior home care. If your dad or others in the family have questions, write them down. You want to make sure you ask them when you talk to a home care expert. The more involved your dad is in the discussions, the easier the transition is for him.

Now that you have a list of questions, call a senior home care specialist. Go over your questions and make sure you understand the services, pricing, and schedules. Once you know what your dad needs and how often he should have a caregiver, book senior home care visits.

If you or an aging loved one is considering senior home care in Coon Rapids, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Between 2012 and 2018, more than 600,000 hip replacement surgeries were completed in the U.S. Eight out of ten of these surgeries were first-time hip replacements. After a hip replacement surgery, patients are typically sent home within two days. Once your mom is home, she needs transitional care. You might not be in a position to spend days and nights with her, but she shouldn’t be alone. She needs 24-hour home care services.

How Around-the-Clock Care Works

Most people don’t understand how 24-hour home care works. Caregivers come to your mom’s home in shifts. Often the shifts are either six or eight hours long, so she might have three or four rotating caregivers each day. Here’s how it would work if your mom has four caregivers working six-hour shifts.

While the caregivers are with her, they’ll help her move around the home and offer support while she walks around her home. If she has therapy appointments, she cannot drive. She’s also going to need help getting in and out of a car. Her caregiver during that shift helps her get to the appointment on time and helps her out of the car and escorts her into the building.

When one caregiver’s shift ends, the next caregiver arrives in time to take over. The morning caregiver may leave right before lunchtime, and that next caregiver prepares lunch and takes over other chores like laundry, housekeeping, and your mom’s afternoon walk.

The same happens with the dinner-time shift change. Your mom has a new caregiver to keep her company during dinner, wash dishes, and clean the kitchen. That caregiver can help your mom brush and floss her teeth and get ready for bed. When the final caregiver arrives, your mom is asleep, but her caregiver is there to help her with bathroom trips and any reminders for middle-of-the-night pain medications.

Once she gets up, her evening caregiver will get her coffee while they wait for her next caregiver. Your mom’s never alone, which eases the fear of falling and having no one know. When her strength and balance improve, her services can be reduced.

Arrange Transitional Care Before Her Surgery

The best way to ensure your mom recovers well from hip surgery is by arranging 24-hour home care before she arrives home. Transitional care is essential while she regains strength and mobility. Her caregivers will help her with mobility as she moves around the home and gets in and out of the shower.

Arrange 24-hour home care services to support your mom. She’ll have someone available to drive her to appointments and help her run errands. She’ll have a caregiver with her to help with bathing routines and dressing. Her caregivers are also there to assist her with nightly rituals and any middle-of-the-night bathroom trips.

Sources:
https://www.prolianceorthopedicassociates.com/dr-barrett-blog/the-results-of-the-2020-american-joint-replacement-registry

If you or an aging loved one is considering 24-hour home care in Brooklyn Park, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.