Hiring A Home Care Aide Is A Good Plan For Elderly People And Their Family Caregivers

Some people need help with activities as they grow old. They often need help in preparing meals. Help might also be needed for them to go grocery shopping or to get to their medical appointments. They may not be able to take baths or dress themselves, and many of them may be disoriented and have trouble administering their own medications. A home care aide can care for your elderly relatives at home, which gives you a break from managing their care.

Contact a Licensed Home Care Agency

You can contact a licensed agency to learn more about licensed home care aides who take care of elderly persons who live in their own homes. You should ask questions about what duties the aide can perform. A trained and licensed home care aide should be adept about preparing meals, laundering clothes, bathing and dressing an elderly person, as well as helping the person with other activities of daily living.

Monitoring and Observing The Elderly

Aides should also be capable of monitoring and handing out medication to your relative. These trained aides can also observe your family member's condition. Most of all, they can be a welcome companion to an elderly person. They can accompany your loved ones for walks, read to them, or bring them to the local library. Some of these aides are directly supervised by public health nurses.

Assessing Your Family Member's Needs

A professional assessment of your family member's care needs can be conducted by a geriatric care manager, according to marketwatch.com. The website advises that you could face a fee of as much as $500 to $800 for that assessment.

If your relative is an Alzheimer's patient, the Alzheimer's Association has a care finder's list on its website that you can use to search for a home care aide. Make sure that you have a plan as to how the home health aide will be paid for services rendered.

Medicare and Long-Term Insurance Coverage

Medicare makes it very easy for you to use its online Home Care compare tool on its website to help you as you search for a home care aide to take care of your older relative. If your loved one does not qualify for Medicare's home care aide program, however, you or your relative might have to pay out-of-pocket to obtain that type of care. If a private long-term insurance policy is held by your relative, that insurance may pay the costs for hiring a home care aide.

National Eldercare Locator

The National Eldercare Locator is an excellent resource that points you in the direction of organizations and agencies that can help you as you search for a trained home care aide, according to sevencounties.org.

For more information about home care, contact a company like Devoted Guardians.