Many people are confused about what senior home care services are and whether they are covered by Medicaid or Medicare. Senior home care is also often times confused with home health care & nursing.

What are Senior Home Care Services

Senior home care services are non-medical care services provided in the home by Home Care Agencies. These services can be covered by medicaid if certain eligibility criteria are met, but are generally not covered by medicare. Senior home care services are provided on 2 to 24 hour basis.

Senior Home Care Services Include:

• Respite care (family relief)
• Homemaker services
• Companionship
• Fall prevention
• Medication reminders
• Incontinence care
• Bathing & grooming

If you would like assistance or more information you can always call us at 1-866-775-0028, visit our Senior Home Care Agency Directory, or fill out this simple online form. Get Help Now!

Therea Phillips, Client Care Manager for All Valley Senior Home Care in Walnut Creek, California shares some tips about what to do when an adult child caregiver’s elderly parents refuse outside help.

As our parents age we walk a fine line between making sure that they are taken care of and taking away their independence. All of a sudden children are now in the position of protecting their parents. They find themselves in a position of ensuring their parents environment is safe but also respecting their choices and decisions that they are still able to make. Unfortunately, if their parents are no longer able to make these important decisions it then can become a war of wills with elderly parents making their children feel guilty.

Understanding Why Parents Refuse Assistance

What has to be understood is some of the reasons why an elderly parent may act out and refuse assistance. It could be behind loss; The loss of a spouse or other family members, the loss of their independence, or it could be the loss of their youth and of feeling healthy and happy. Some of the defiance of accepting help could just be plain anger. The human nature of wanting and needing to blame someone else when things are going bad. It could also be the realization that they are sick and just can’t do the things they used to be able to.

The dynamics of a family of an elderly parent could have been years in the making. Sometimes guilt is a part of the family make up before the situation occurred that caused the need for help. When children and even non-family members become caregivers of elderly loved ones, they have to understand how that elderly person is feeling.

Many elderly women where brought up an era where they married, had having children and lived her whole life taking care of her home, her children and her husband. She has been brought up in an era where that is what the woman did and no one did that for her. Now to bring a stranger in to take care of her, her home and even sometimes to take care of her husband it is seen as a threat.

Many elderly men have been brought up in an era where men were men. He was strong and independent. He was the bread winner, he took care of his family and made sure his family was safe. Now, there is someone coming into his home taking that away from him. He can feel in his own body that he doesn’t have the strength to take care of his family anymore and he can’t keep them safe, which can be very disheartening for him.

Approaching Your Elderly Parent

Every family is different but for the most part a lot of families were structured in this way when current generation of elderly people where younger. Unfortunately, sometimes just like their elderly parents had to do with them, adult children may have to put their foot down for the best interest and safety of their parents.

Approaching a loved one about needing help can be very uncomfortable to say the least. Here are some tips that can make the conversation go smoothly:

• Have a meeting with siblings if there are any. Discuss what the outcome of the meeting will be. If the concerns are not urgent, then it is okay to say that; likewise, if the concerns are urgent it needs to be stated.
• When speaking to aging parents it is best to focus on what they can still do, not what they can’t do.
• Encourage your parents to continue doing what they can do, and to accept help with tasks they cannot do.
• Timing of the conversation is crucial. Do not wait until there is a crisis to have the discussions. Trying to force a decision immediately seldom works. It is best to put a deadline on the calendar to come back and re-visit the discussion allowing time to process the information.
• All family members need to be in “the same mind” for this discussion. If other family members are not in agreement, these members will work to undermine the efforts of others. To bring everyone to a single mindedness, family members can meet beforehand to discuss their feelings. If need be, third party can mediate this meeting to keep emotions in check.

Starting Senior Home Care Services

When you start senior home care services you will be bringing in a non-family caregiver; It is important to understand that if your parent acts up with the family member they may not necessarily act up with a non family caregiver. Also understand that in order to make the elderly parents environment safe and to make sure that you can take care of yourself an outside home care agency is sometimes needed and you should not feel guilty seeking their assistance.

The most important thing you can do is to be patient and understand that there has been a change in your love one’s life; Whether it is a loss of memory or having a life changing diagnosis. Look for senior home care agencies that help you understand your role as caregiver to your elderly parent or family member. Get help to learn to take care of yourself.

If you would like assistance or more information you can always call us at 1.866.775.0028, visit our Senior Home Care Agency Directory, or fill out this simple online form. Get Help Now!

Senior home care agencies provide caregivers to a person in their residence to assist with everyday activities. These activities include helping someone get up in the morning, showering, cooking, and cleaning. Seniors can utilize this help either for a short time while they are recovering from an ailment, or when things are just becoming too difficult to perform on a daily basis.

There are many cases when seniors can benefit from senior home care services.

• When family members are either gone at work or on vacation.
• When you just get back from the hospital.
• When you’re too busy to perform every household task.

Senior Home Care agencies are more than willing to work out a personalized and detailed plan of service. The office staff will go over everything the times and days of service, what is to be accomplished during those times, and what is to be expected from both parties.
Having someone come into your home might seem like a big step but when you see that it provides extra security for your family as a whole, you might want to consider home care services.

If you or your family thinks in home senior care might be a step in the right direction, you call and discuss the options with a Vida Senior Resource home care representative. They will go over the details with you and offer their knowledge, so you can make an educated decision regarding which route is best for you. If you or your family decides that home care is not the right path, our staff can point you in a direction that will best meet your needs, including assisted living placements.

If you would like assistance or more information you can always call us at 1-866-775-0028, visit our Senior Home Care Agency Directory, or fill out this simple online form. Get Help Now!