Freedoms of In-Home Care
Freedom is rarely mentioned in the many articles written about senior in-home care versus facility-based care. Yet, we find personal freedom to be one of the features our clients and their families value most about in-home care options.
Most of those articles discuss things like finances or reducing the stress and strain associated with relocating from a home and community you love. Those are certainly valid points, but today we want to highlight the freedoms of in-home care that simply aren’t available when you transition to an assisted living or nursing home community.
In-Home Care Preserves Freedom and Dignity
Choosing a home care provider is the best way to keep a senior loved one’s life as familiar and comforting as possible, bringing in the support, help, and care required to ensure they are safe.
Here are examples of how in-home care honors the freedom and dignity seniors deserve to have in the final chapters of their lives.
1. Never Say Goodbye to the Home, Pets, or Things You Love
Even the highest-tier assisted living and nursing home facilities have stringent rules about what can and cannot come with a new resident. If you’re lucky, residents are allowed to bring their beds and bedding, a dresser, a chair, and limited pieces of art or photos, but rarely can they furnish a space much larger than a college dorm room.
The very premise of in-home care is that we bring all of the love, service, and attention directly to our clients’ doors. As a result, they get to keep their homes just as they like them. While we are happy to help rearrange a bit to keep the home more accessible, loved ones remain surrounded by their beloved furnishings, pets, and a lifetime of mementos.
2. Choose Companionship or Services as Needed
Clients and families choose how often they need support, the shifts that work best for them, and which services they want to take advantage of with in-home care.
For example, some of our clients keep standing weekly dates with their in-home caregivers, allowing time for conversation, trips out and about to run errands, routine appointments and social engagements, and perhaps some light housekeeping.
Others have caregivers working part-time shifts multiple times a week, daily, or overnight. Shifts are scheduled to accommodate the client’s best time of day, which may mean early morning, late morning, afternoon, or evening shifts—depending on their personal rhythms.
This is very different from residential care, where scheduling is universal and cannot accommodate the individual needs of a single resident.
3. Free From Hidden Fees or “Add-On” Services
In-home care is billed at a per/hour rate, regardless of the services offered. There are never additional fees if a normally able client requires extra assistance for bathroom transfers or to eat a meal in the kitchen because they’re feeling a little weaker or under the weather that day. Nor do we charge extra for personal hygiene and toileting care, launder and change linens, or run errands.
This means you have the freedom to choose the service hours you need, with respect to your budget, and you never have to worry about hidden fees or add-on services missed in “the fine print.” Our services are always scheduled in four-hour minimums and our per/hour rates are firm and predictable.
4. Go Where You Want to Go
Our companions and caregivers love to accompany seniors on outings or participate in their favorite activities, social engagements, and gatherings. We’re just as happy to be a partner in the activity as we are to provide safe transportation and then wait patiently until our client is ready to return home.
There’s no need to wait for a once-a-month outing or to hope that someday a favorite or traditional event will make it on the activities calendar. We prefer our clients to become active partners in planning activities, outings, and adventures that keep them active and engaged with friends and the community they call home.
5. Enjoy Favorite Foods Upon Request
Of course, in-home caregivers are careful to align meals, snacks, and treats with a client’s dietary restrictions or recommendations. That said, clients get to say what’s on the grocery list and what’s on the menu for any given day.
Our cooking services include:
- Meal planning
- Grocery shopping
- Preparation of partial or entire meals as requested
- Ingredient tracking to ensure foods and meals meet the dietary recommendations and restrictions provided by the clients’ physician or specialists
- Pre-prepared meals for reheating
- Companionship during meals
And, since clients and families make the grocery list, there is plenty of freedom to be had.
6. The Freedom to Enjoy Visitors as Desired
While in-home caregivers are beholden to any state or county-mandated shutdown laws, clients have far more freedom around who they see and who gets to visit.
As nursing home facilities have made it harder and harder for residents to connect with the outside world, in-home care clients can visit with family and friends, and we honor the individuals’ and the family’s preferences to keep everyone safe, happy, and healthy.
This makes for much higher-quality lives as studies repeatedly show how important social stimulation and engagement are for slowing the signs of aging, especially those associated with dementia or cognitive decline. Seniors who remain socially engaged are also less likely to experience depression and anxiety.
If in-person connections feel too risky as the result of the current pandemic climate, caregivers can help. Using the client’s gadgets and an internet connection, we support clients as they log in to socialize with family, friends, and social networks anytime they want on their devices.
Enjoying the Freedoms of In-Home Care
Don’t let residential rules and regulations diminish the quality of your loved ones’ life.
Local home care agencies, like Affordable Senior Home Care, honor your loved one’s wants and needs, with a custom-tailored in-home care plan made just for them.
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