Home health care aides provide a valuable service to the community by looking after seniors in their own homes. As seniors start to age, they find it more and more difficult to perform many of the common daily chores all on their own.
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On the other hand, it is not always possible for family caregivers to devote enough of their time to look after their elderly loved ones. There are work and other obligations that may come in the way and no matter how much they would like to take care of their own parents or other elderly relatives, sometimes it is simply not feasible. This is where hiring a home care aide becomes beneficial for all parties involved.
Now, of course, in the wake of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, some of the things have taken unexpected turns and situations are not as straightforward as before. We would go into a detailed discussion of this in a minute. But before we do that, let’s briefly run through the benefits of having a home care aide and some of the typical duties that home care workers perform to ensure good health and well-being of our seniors.
Some of the Common Difficulties and Challenges Faced by Aging Seniors
Age takes its toll on everybody. Even if a person is not suffering from any ailment (minor or major), with growing age, infirmity still sets in different degrees. This may result in limited mobility and both physical and mental fatigue. The upshot is that many of the common housekeeping tasks (such as doing the laundry, cooking meals, performing light cleaning chores, shopping for groceries, and so on) seem to appear more and more tiresome (and often, irksome as well).
And this directly affects the mental well-being of elderly persons. It is not uncommon for frustration, anxiety, or even anger to set in. And once this happens, it of course serves to further deteriorate the situation. The elders may start to neglect their personal hygiene; they often stop cooking meals altogether and start eating canned food or ordering takeouts; forgetting to take the prescription medications at appointed hours is another common phenomenon. Elders more advanced in age will also often have a hard time climbing the stairs or even moving around the home. They may also need help with bathing and cleaning themselves.
So, of course, home care requirements for a senior vary depending on the situation. Some of the difficulties we’ve mentioned above can be taken care of by the elderly person’s children or relatives if they stay together (or even if the relative(s) stay somewhere close by). But it is just as likely that they may stay thousands of miles apart in which case, of course, external help becomes so much more valuable and almost indispensable.
How Home Care Helps Seniors
Depending on the situation and the requirements thereof, home health aides can help a senior in a variety of manners.
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Normally, personal care aides help elderly people with supervision and personal support. However, if a person is suffering from an injury or needs home care post-discharge from a health care facility, these jobs are handled by licensed nurses and physical or occupational therapists. According to a report published by the National Association for Home-Care and Hospice, currently, over 12 million people in the US depend on the services provided by the home health care agencies.
While licensed health care workers with special training service elderly people with severe disabilities or those suffering from serious illnesses or from after-effects of serious injuries, the vast majority of home health care workers are comprised of personal care aides.
Under normal circumstances (that is, before the unforeseen circumstances we are now made to pass through due to the pandemic), the personal aide workers will help a senior at home by:
– Performing light cleaning and other household chores
– Helping the elderly person with cooking meals
– Doing the groceries or accompanying the senior to the store (if he or she doesn’t feel confident driving)
– Bathing and washing the aging person and taking care of his or her personal hygiene necessities
…and more
The home care workers can be hired monthly, weekly, biweekly, or even daily depending on one’s requirements. Now, it should be pointed out that, due to advancements in technology and services, at least some of these tasks can at present be carried out even without the help of a home care aide. For example, many businesses, such as grocery stores, dry cleaning, drug stores, etc. now provide express same-day pick-up and delivery service. Even for getting around the town, a senior can take a taxi, Uber or public transport.
As for meals, there are a few quality home food delivery services working in many different cities and towns, most notably among them the renowned Meals on Wheels America. However, one thing to understand here is that personal care and assistance is not all about convenience. It is also to ensure safety, security, and above all, the mental well-being of your elderly loved ones. To cite but one example, even if you can get quality food from a home delivery service, this is still different from a home-cooked meal. Often, a personal care assistant will help a senior prepare his or her own meal and will also sometime share the meal with her if so requested. This not only keeps the senior physically and mentally active but also goes a long way in keeping her in a healthy and positive mental state and helps alleviate his or her sense of isolation or loneliness.
Similarly, when it comes to going out, it is better to have someone accompanying the elderly person rather than the person being all on his own. Of course, drugs, groceries, and many everyday necessities can now be availed without setting a foot out of your doorstep. But, this also has the negative effect of making the elderly person even more stuck-in at home. Also, elderly persons often regularly visit community centers, when opened again, and the like to engage in various activities and meet with other people. To have someone to accompany the seniors during these visits not only ensures their safety but will also make their relatives feel more at ease. If required, the caregivers will also accompany their clients during medical appointments, take walks with them, or participate in exercises and other activities meant to promote and maintain mobility.
Basically, when an elderly person knows that there is someone around to take care of them and that the help is close at hand, it helps alleviate their anxiety and make them more active—both physically and mentally. This is especially true for elderly persons living alone.
Covid-19 Pandemic and Home Health Care
Before we go to the pandemic scenario, let us briefly mention that several studies had already established that seniors who get to stay at their own homes enjoy a higher amount of well-being compared to those who are taken care of at nursing homes or long-term care facilities.
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This is understandable since living in familiar surroundings (whether alone or with relatives) cannot fail to provide a sense of security whereas being uprooted can have a serious negative impact at least on a few individuals.
Now to come to the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of attention in recent days has been directed to assisted living and long-term care facilities, especially in the wake of a New York Times report according to which employees and residents of these facilities have accounted for almost 40% of the nation’s deaths. One reason for this could be that a lot of these facilities were overcrowded and understaffed.
However, whatever the reasons, in view of all these deaths in these facilities, many elderly people are now more reluctant than ever to move into a nursing home. Even people with major health conditions are more willing to receive home care than getting admitted to a medical facility. Then there are many elderly people with coronavirus who may not require hospitalization but will still require home care and close supervision. In addition, older adults already hospitalized with the virus will need aftercare once they are discharged.
Needless to tell, all of this has put a lot of pressure on home health care services and their staff. Also, the onset of the virus has all of a sudden made the profession an extremely risky and challenging one for the practitioners. Commonly, a personal care assistant will visit a number of homes daily to stitch together a living. Under present circumstances, however, this has become a risky proposition since higher exposure puts both the home care worker and his/her clients into a more vulnerable position.
Accordingly, the workforce in the industry has dwindled to a considerable degree which in turn has put even more pressure on those workers who are continuing with their job. Some relief has come in the way of family caregivers who are now made to stay at home due to lockdown caused by the pandemic. This has given these people more opportunity to stay close to their elderly loved ones and take care of their needs. However, there are still many older adults who live alone and who cannot do without home care aides.
How Home Care Aides Are Helping Seniors Cope with This Prolonged Pandemic
Apart from the common duties performed by a health care aide (as discussed above), the present pandemic scenario has made it necessary for the care worker to assist the seniors in other ways as well. One of these is to familiarize the seniors with the latest technologies in order to help them stay connected. The older adults cherish visits from family and friends and normally put a lot of stock on them since these help them feel connected and cared for. However, since visits of such kind are not feasible under ongoing circumstances, it is important that the elders do not suffer from feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Making use of video chat technologies through tablets, laptops or smartphones can help seniors feel involved and not isolated. However, not many older adults are accustomed to using these means. Health care workers can help them here. Also, faith communities and houses of worship often play a big part in an elderly person’s social life. However, since at present temples, churches and congregations cannot function in the normal way due to social distancing norms, caregivers can help the seniors access the alternative avenues of online outreach and services for spiritual support and solace.
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Additionally, they can help the older ones with hearing challenges to use apps that provide captions.
More than anything though, the regular visits of the care assistant itself prove to be a great source of support and solace for the seniors, especially those who are living alone. The pandemic has hit the hardest on the older populations and this is apt to cause considerable anxiety to the older adults. The presence of a personal care assistant can help alleviate, at least to some degree, that sense of fear and anxiety.
Choosing the Right Home Care Service During This Pandemic
Although there are many reputable home health care services with good track records, extra caution needs to be taken when hiring a home care aide during this pandemic. Unfortunate as it is, the reality of the situation is that many of these services are not only suffering from a lack of professionals (willing to work under these circumstances), but also from a severe lack of Personal Protective Equipment or PPE. This includes masks, gloves, sanitizers, etc. Understandably, when distributing the equipment, priorities are given to the hospitals and other medical facilities and this has put many home health care services in a compromised situation. The situation, therefore, calls for adequate caution on the part of the relatives hiring a home care aide for their elderly ones. In order to minimize the risk of infection, make sure that the care assistant who will visit your elderly loved one is COVID-free, in possession of all the necessary protection. This is vital not only for the safety of your loved one but also for the health care worker and his family as well as of the other clients he/she will be serving.
Boca Home Care Services has been serving seniors in Broward and Palm Beach counties since 1998. Qualified Caregivers Are Available During This COVID-19 Emergency. Call us today at (561) 989-0611