What Is In Home Elder Care Companionship?

Elder care is recommended to those individuals who prefer to stay in their homes but need a constant care which their family members cannot easily provide. With elder care, seniors can live on their own as long as possible, receiving as much help as possible from the outside. The services given to seniors depend mostly on every individual's condition. Elder care may either involve giving limited health care services to seniors with minimal health concerns or more complete health care services to a recuperating, disabled, or terminal ill senior. Ordinarily, these adults are placed in a nursing home environment and not in a hospital setting. In particular, family members of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other similar diseases feel it is much better for them to remain in their home environment through the help of a home elder caregiver.

Elder care services may be acquired either through an in home care agency or by hiring a caregiver directly. Direct hires are more common for companionship services and for home health services when seniors' conditions are likely to remain the same for an extended period. Senior caregivers may provide their services on a live-in basis or they may live out. In general, those who provide companionship services are stay-in workers while home health aides come and go on a pre-determined timetable.

Elder care companionship services are mainly provided to elderly adults who are physically healthy but need some help in their Activities of Daily Living or ADLs. Its main thrust is to allow them to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. The assistance given is usually non-medical. In general, an elder care companion does not provide the more detailed aspects of senior care.

Although a companion has similarities with a home health aide, such as having an experience with patient care and absent training, a companion has a less physically demanding job than a health aide. The reason for this is that with this job the senior client is normally more mobile and physically fit. Towards him, a companion is more of a friend and a confidant than a health worker. His duties are more on providing satisfaction to an adult who is living in solitude and assure concerned family members of the senior's over-all well-being.

An elder care companion is able to transform regular care giving duties into great opportunities for enjoyable conversations and activities that can enhance the senior's lives. Companionship services may include strolling around the neighborhood, discussing current news or personal interests, talking about the past while viewing old pictures, and working on puzzles, playing scrabbles, going to church and attending senior center activities. Through these different kinds of activities seniors are given the emotional support that they badly need and some kind of assistance that can keep them mentally alert. These activities also ensure that they remain physically active.

For their services to be highly effective, elder companions tailor them according to the personality, interests, and skills of every senior client. Research studies prove that these elder companion practices can help seniors live longer and have a healthier and more meaningful life.

Senior Helpers in home care Philadelphia are designed with the individual needs of your family in mind. Our services include Dementia and Alzheimer's Care as well as companionship services