If you have an elderly parent or family member for whom you are a primary caregiver, you may find yourself wondering if you are really equipped to handle it all. Maybe your schedule has changed and other aspects of your life are taking up more of your time, leaving you with less of a capability to give your senior the attention and the time he or she deserves.
In situations like these, primary caregivers may realize they need to track down Reliable In Home Senior Care to fill in the blanks. You still remain in position as the main caretaker of your elderly adult, but hiring some additional help can alleviate some of the tension and uncertainty for ensuring that your loved one is receiving the elderly care that he or she needs.
When it comes time to hire that additional help, many people will automatically consider seeking out a home care nurse. Unfortunately, this isn’t always necessary and you may, in fact, need to hire a home care helper instead. So what’s the difference? Good thing you asked as you may be hiring the wrong individual to care for your elderly parent or relative and that could result in improper or inadequate care being given.
So before you seek out some in-home help for your loved one, you need to determine which type of help you really need and we’re going to break it down for you.
Hiring a Home Care Nurse
While most caregivers will immediately assume they should be hiring a home care nurse for their senior, this isn’t always the answer. The only reasons for bringing on a home care nurse is to provide medical attention to an elderly adult or anyone who is otherwise infirm. A nurse is someone who is expected to do nursing duties and administer treatment.
This might include wound dressing, giving the senior any required medications or injections, and tend to various medical matters such as respiratory or colostomy care.
Hiring a Home Care Helper
A home care helper is probably the individual most caregivers are seeking to assist with providing care for an elderly person living in his or her own home. That’s because this type of care provider isn’t tasked with administering medical care to the senior, but instead their duties include any number of jobs and services that are limited to housekeeping, accomplishing errands, going shopping, preparing meals, hygiene assistance, and companionship.
The home care helper is there to do many of the things you do on a daily basis other than administering medical attention or any forms of medical treatment. They can come to your home and reside there full time, come to the home on a part time basis, along any schedule you decide upon, be it daily, every other day, weekends only, it’s really up to you and the needs of your senior.
Now that you know that there is a difference between the two, you can hire the right care professional to do the jobs and services that you require for your elderly adult.
