Ten Things Caregivers Need to Know about Home Care

Ten Things Caregivers Need to Know about Home Care

Taking care of your home is a vital part of taking care of the ones you love. Though home care is a very complicated aspect, it comes in different forms. Choosing your home care can be quite confusing. Below are 10 tips that every caregiver must know in order to choose the home care that's best.

1. You must remember that there are 3 categories in home care: companion/homemaker service, personal care and skilled care. You're not limited in using a single type of home care.

2. Companion/homemaker services are non-medical care; this includes spending time with someone who needs to be taken care of, taking someone to a medical appointment or doing light housekeeping. This category is perfect for caregivers who need to do multiple task or those who need to be at 2 places at the same time.

3. Personal care is basically helping in personal tasks. This includes bathing, eating, grooming and even going to the bathroom. A health aide may provide personal care.

4. Skilled care is an advance kind of home care. Doctors can order this kind of care if they think that is necessary. It can include monitoring a serious illness, wound care and certain rehabilitation.

5. The type of care that a certain caregiver can provide depends on the state regulation. As an example; in some state, obtaining the client's blood pressure and temperature is allowed while in others they're not. There are states that allow nurse to manage medications only. Make sure that you're informed about what you can or can't do.

6. There are 3 kinds of agencies that can provide home care. There are agencies that can provide more than 1 type of home care.

7. Home care agencies provide personal care. Some of them also offer homemaker/companion services while some can offer skill care. Home care agencies requires license in some states if they have services that's covered with Medicaid.

8. Companion/non-medical agencies can provide homemaker/companion services. They are rarely covered by any insurance or are rarely licensed. They are not well regulated in terms of training their employees or in providing services.

9. Health agencies that provide homecare have license given by the state and are certified by Medicaid and Medicare. They also provide personal care through their employees or through their partner agencies.

10. If you're looking for someone to provide you with home care services, there might be registry or employment agencies that can provide you with referrals to individuals who can offer the service.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Sunday August 31 2014, 10:30 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0