Generally speaking, home care is required when a loved one is a threat to their own well being or he/she needs assistance with the activities of daily living. These activities include, but are not limited to: meal preparation, bathing, dressing, grooming, errands, shopping and medication reminders.
Recognizing for the first time that your loved one requires home care can be the most difficult, yet most important decision you may contemplate on his/her behalf. Many seniors requiring home care will not welcome a stranger into their home willingly. Even if a caregiver is present only to provide basic living assistance, there often is a tendency to perceive the caregiver’s initial presence as a loss of independence.
It may be helpful to review this short list of indicators to help analyze your senior loved one’s particular situation.
This list contains situations which, in our experience, provide a reliable indicator of when help is required.
Consider home care for your loved one if he/she:
- Has been discharged from the hospital recently and believes he or she has recovered to a greater extent than is really the case.
- Has physical limitations such as a loss of sensory perception.
- Is undergoing rehabilitation.
- Experiences short term memory loss.
- Cannot prepare his/her own meals.
- Is unable to achieve an adequate standard of personal grooming and hygiene.
- Cannot maintain a satisfactory level of home cleanliness.
- Finds family care giving efforts inadequate or unsatisfactory.
- Is a danger to self or others while driving.
- Cannot maintain his/her normal social lifestyle independently.
- Makes family members’ lives unduly stressful.