Essential Home Care Services Every Older Adult Needs to Age at Home

Around 14.7 million older adults in the U.S. live alone. That’s 28% of the population elderly population. When it comes to women 75 or older, 44% of them live alone. Older adults often face loneliness and isolation, but there are ways to prevent it. Your mom wants to stay in her home, but she has rheumatoid arthritis, which limits her daily activities from time to time. For her to age at home without leaving you in a constant state of anxiety, it’s important to arrange these home care services.

Companion Visits from Home Care Aides

With home care services like companionship visits, your mom has someone checking in each week, a few times a week, or every day. You’ll know that she has someone visiting and keeping her company. Her caregiver can make sure she has food, water, electricity, and heat. If there are issues, her caregiver helps her correct them.

Housekeeping

Does your mom find it harder to keep up with housework? This isn’t surprising if she has a chronic condition like rheumatoid arthritis. Sometimes, joint pain limits what you can do.

She can have her caregiver take over the more difficult cleaning chores, such as changing sheets or carrying a laundry basket to the basement. Your mom can fold laundry, but she’s not confident supporting weight on steep stairs when her knees are swollen and painful.

Caregivers can dust, vacuum, sweep, sanitize surfaces, wash dishes, make beds, and water plants. They can take out the trash and recycling, put away purchases, and tidy up after a meal.

Hygiene and Grooming

Your mom’s finger joints often freeze up. This makes it very difficult for her to floss and brush her teeth, wash her hair, and even button her pants and shirts. When her arthritis flares up, you can hire a caregiver to help her with hygiene and grooming chores like dressing, bathing, and oral care.

Meal Preparation and Prescription Reminders

Meal preparation services are popular with older adults who are aging at home. It’s hard to cook for one person when you’re used to cooking for a family. Sometimes, the effort it takes doesn’t seem worthwhile. As a result, your mom sticks to frozen pizzas, takeout, canned soup, and frozen dinners.

She can have a caregiver cooking for her. She shares what she wants to eat each week and goes shopping, if desired, with her caregiver. When it’s time for a meal or snack, her caregiver prepares it and keeps her company while she eats.

Your mom forgets to take her prescriptions, and it’s unnecessarily risking her health. Hire caregivers to stop by each day and remind your mom to take her prescriptions.

If your mom has to take her pills with a meal, her caregiver can prepare the meal for her. If she needs to take it on an empty stomach, her caregiver will prepare a meal an hour or two after she has her meal.

Transportation Provided by a Home Care Aide

Your mom no longer drives, but that doesn’t have to restrict her to areas she can walk to. Have a home care aide drive your mom to the store, an area park, the library, or other areas of interest.

Her caregiver can take her shopping, help her run errands, or join her for lunch out and a trip to a local museum. Your mom gets out, socializes, and never feels isolated.

Arrange home care after you talk to your mom and other family caregivers. Get a list of questions together. From there, you can talk to our home care specialist and schedule the services that will help the most.

Source: https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/social-issues-in-older-adults/older-adults-living-alone

If you or an aging loved one is considering Home Care Services in Alpharetta GA please contact the caring staff at CaraVita Home Care today. (770) 643-1712