Important Help Elderly Home Care Can Provide For You And Your Spouse
Posted on: 21 February 2023
If you're getting older and you or your spouse are having a hard time taking care of yourself, it may be time to look into elderly home care. That might bring up images of seniors of advanced age who are bedridden, but it shouldn't. You can still be fairly young and active and need help with getting dressed or preparing meals, especially if you have COPD, arthritis, or some other condition that makes it difficult for you to be mobile.
If your spouse is the one having trouble, it may be too difficult and unsafe for you to care for them by yourself. That's where elderly home care is helpful. You and your spouse get the type of help you need and want so you're both content and safe. Here's how home care can help.
Prepare Your Meals For The Day
If you have difficulty preparing meals because you can't stand for very long or you have arthritis, you might get meals delivered from an elderly care service. If not, a home care assistant may help prepare your meals and leave snacks and food for you to eat throughout the day. The assistant can also watch over your nutrition and encourage you and your spouse to eat enough calories and drink enough fluids to stay strong and healthy.
Help Get Your Day Started
An elderly home care assistant might help you bathe each morning and put on fresh clothes. They can wash your hair and monitor your skin for rashes and sores. If an assistant finds a problem, they can let a supervisor know so you can get help from a nurse or call your doctor.
Hygiene is important. Keeping your skin and teeth clean helps prevent infections and can boost your mood. However, if you have shortness of breath or arthritic hands, you might not be able to do these tasks. It may even be unsafe for you to get in and out of a tub without help from an assistant.
Having elderly home care could mean you get to stay in your home for as long as possible rather than having to transition to assisted living or a nursing home. It could also mean you and your spouse can stay together well into your golden years.
Make Sure You Take Medication
If you need to take medicine on schedule, you might use a pill holder that has a timer, but being supervised by a home health assistant is helpful too. The assistant can make sure you take your medication when they are present and the next day they can check you took your medication that was due after they left.
Medication errors can be a big problem for older people. You may forget to take your pills or forget you took them and take the pills again. Having supervision with your medication might be one of the more important jobs of your home health assistant.
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