The Benefits of Individualized Home Care Plans for Elder Clients & Family Caregivers
Since EasyLiving’s beginning, our goal has been to provide “Home Care…for the Way You Live”, meaning that we wish to meet not only a client’s needs for health and safety, but to customize care to each individual’s lifestyle, goals, and preferences. We have been able to succeed in this goal by putting systems and processes into place that allow us to be efficient and standardized, while providing more flexibility, affordability and personalization. We thought we’d share a little about the home care planning process and components to help better portray how this can be done.
The components of our home care plan include the various areas with which clients may need assistance:
- Medications
- Chronic Conditions Management
- Respiratory Equipment
- Nutrition
- Dressing & Grooming
- Showering & Bathing
- Bathroom Assistance
- Mobility (walking & transferring)
- Cognitive & Psychosocial
- Behavior Management
- Skin Care
- Transportation
- Pet Care
- Housekeeping & Laundry
We also include important information in the careplan to help our home caregivers provide optimal home care, such as the person’s habits like smoking, reluctance to be receiving care/help, and the main objectives of EasyLiving home care. We compliment other services the client is receiving, such as physical therapy or skilled home health care, by including information on services being provided in the care plan.
The home care plan covers relevant information to instruct our home health aides and caregivers about the client’s needs and the expectations of their duties, but also details about preferences. For example, does the client prefer an evening shower or a morning bath? How often does he or she like to bathe? Does the client prefer a special soap or lotion?
The care plan alerts the home caregivers of issues to watch for and note, especially in regards to chronic conditions and health. The home health aide is often the eyes and ears to provide information to our supervisory staff and family caregivers. The cognitive portion of the careplan is tailored to help clients with memory loss, Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementia. We provide our EasyLiving caregivers advanced Alzheimer’s/dementia training to be better equipped to provide Alzheimer’s home care.
As a matter of fact, we offer ongoing training to all of our home caregivers on many different aspects of the care plan and providing quality care. By providing free in-house training sessions and paying caregivers for their time spent in training, we ensure our staff has the opportunity to excel in the care they provide. Many home care companies are not willing to make this investment, but focusing on our home caregivers has enabled us to minimize turnover and thus keep our home care affordable, while improving quality.
Look for our upcoming article, which will cover the “Life History” and “Daily Routines” information we incorporate into our care plans to personalize the client’s home care experience.
Contact us today at 727-447-5845 for more information on elderly home care plans and how we can help you or your loved one remain safe, healthy, independent and happy at home.
