Homecare is a lot like health insurance- it's not something you think about until you really need it. Of course, you hope that you never will, but life sometimes has plans that are different from what we expected. With that in mind, it's important to understand your homecare options, whether you are in Nashville, Tampa, or somewhere else in the US.  The main purpose of home care is to enable people to stay in their homes instead of having to use institutional nursing care. It's a bit like hospice, except hospice is end of life only, whereas home care can be used for anybody in a situation of declining health. It enables your parents, grandparents, or other loved ones to

live with dignity even though their health is failing them.    The most professional home health services typically include medical or psychological evaluations, instruction on the use of medication, advanced techniques for pain management, wound care and application of dressing, as well as chronic disease education and management. It will also usually include speech, physical or occupational therapy, which are of course dependent on the needs of the individual.    Life assistance services include help with daily tasks such as preparing meals, medication reminders, doing the laundry, general housekeeping, running errands, shopping, transportation, and companionship with an elderly person. Home care is also often regular component of the post-hospitalization recovery process, especially during the initial weeks after being discharged from the hospital while the patient still requires some level of regular physical assistance, for example to get out of bed or to go to the bathroom.    In general, home care offers a lot of benefits to elderly people, especially when compared to nursing homes. Not only is the home care covered by insurance when need for health related reasons, but it also leaves the elderly person in his or her personal space. Without having to move out and change the environment it’s a lot easier to accept a friendly assistance from a caregiver and continue to live as normally as possible.    

 

 

Home care might not be the best option in all elderly persons cases, though. Those cases are usually the ones where sickness is of such nature that your loved one becomes unaware of surroundings, for example, if he or she suffers from dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. But for most elderly people who struggle with diseases that naturally come with old age, home care could help them live the latter days of their life in their homes, in familiar surrounding with the people they know and love and with an assistant who is there to make up for the shortcomings that old age brings.    This brief has been brought to you by Nashville Homecare. For more information please visit us here or here.