Tags: Sarasota Home Care Agency, Sarasota Independent Private Duty Nursing, Sarasota Private Duty Nursing, Sarasota Senior Home Care Near Me, Sarasota Senior Wellness
There are 47 million seniors living in the US. Only 3.1% of them have moved to a nursing home or assisted living. Instead, most seniors and their families opt to keep the seniors in their homes.
In fact, most seniors would prefer to stay in their homes. Often, though, they reach a stage in their aging when they need additional help to remain in their own homes.
If you’re about to head to a search engine to look up “home health care near me,” you probably have a senior in your life who needs some help.
Sarasota home health care aides can provide the important support and assistance that allows your senior loved one to remain living in their home.
Are you wondering what kind of services a home health care aide provides? Read on to learn more about how a home health care aide could help you.
Sarasota Home Health Care Aides
Sarasota home health care agencies help to place home health care aides in the home of those who need it.
The home health care aide will go into the home of the seniors and provide the needed support that will allow them to remain living in their homes. Their role is to assist their patient with the activities of daily living.
While the home health care aide works to support the care of the senior, they also provide an important role of companionship. Another important thing they do is to ensure the senior is okay while they make their regular visits.
Seniors and Activities of Daily Living
If you’re searching for home health care near me, once you start meeting with home health care professionals, you’re likely to hear the term activities of daily living.
For a senior, it’s often the activities of daily living that they need assistance with. Activities of daily living are all of the things a person might do over the course of a day or week in their daily lives.
This includes the basic activities of daily living:
- Ambulating
- Feeding
- Dressing
- Personal hygiene
- Continence
- Toileting
Additionally, there are some instrumental activities of daily life that require some complex thinking skills to maintain. These include:
- Transportation and shopping
- Managing finances
- Shopping and meal preparation
- House cleaning and home maintenance
- Communication with others
- Managing medications
When a senior begins to struggle with any of these activities, it’s time to consider some additional help for them.
Typical Day for a Home Health Care Aide
Home health care aides provide a plethora of support to their clients. A home health care aide is a professional trained to perform the needed tasks for the senior.
Yet, no two jobs are alike. Every senior has unique needs and accepts help in differing ways.
It’s the role of the home health care aide to get to know their client and their needs. They also need to understand how to work with them in a way that maintains their dignity while still offering the important support that’s needed.
Duties of a Home Health Care Aide
When you hire someone for Sarasota private home health care, their duties will vary based on the needs of the patient. Often the duties fall under the umbrella of activities of daily living.
Since 87% of seniors want to stay in their homes, it’s important to find support to help make that happen.
The team, including the home health care aide, can help to evaluate the needs of the patient. Then they develop a care plan for things that are needed from the home health care aide when they visit the home.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the commonly needed duties.
Personal Care
Personal care is one area where the client might feel some level of embarrassment that they need help. Personal care might include:
- Getting dressed
- Brushing teeth
- Combing hair
- Bathing
- Skin and nail care
- Personal hygiene needs
- Using the bathroom
The home health care aide will work hard to alleviate any discomfort, and their goal will be to assist in these personal care needs, so the client maintains their dignity and comfort.
Meal Planning and Preparation
One obstacle of staying in the home is ensuring that the client is eating and getting the needed nutrition.
Often with aging, the basic tasks of cooking and cleaning up become too difficult and potentially dangerous.
Meal planning and preparation can be supported and even completed by the home health care aide to ensure the client gets food as needed.
Medication
A home health care aide can take on the critical task of making sure medication is taken as needed. While in many states, they can’t actually administer the medication, they can provide support to ensure it’s taken.
The aide who comes daily can monitor that medication is taken daily. They can also go to pick up prescriptions for the client.
Housekeeping
For a client who is struggling with mobility or even self-care, basic housekeeping can become an overwhelming chore.
The home health care aide can help to perform housekeeping duties that can be too physically challenging for the client. They can do everything from washing the dishes and running the vacuum to cleaning the bathroom and washing laundry.
Companionship
Companionship is an important component of effective home health care. The home health care aide becomes a trusted and reliable support system for the client.
Enriching their social interactions are as important as attending to the client’s physical needs. They will talk with the patient, share stories, and show their genuine care.
Transportation
Many who need home health care no longer have the ability to transport themselves places.
The home health care aide can provide transportation for the client to the places they need to go. Whether that’s a doctor’s appointment or an important family event, the home health care aide can provide the needed transportation.
Get the Sarasota Private Home Health Care You Need
Sarasota home health care aides can provide a variety of important services to help keep your loved one in their home as long as possible.
If you’re looking for home health care for your loved one, we can help. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you care for your loved one in their home.