Home care assistance can be defined as any form of professional support service that allows a person to live comfortably in their homes while receiving the said services. These services can help the seniors to live independently, offer assisted living to people with special needs or with a disability, help those recovering from a medical setback, and those suffering from chronic health issues. The type of service a person will need will depend on what a person needs. Therefore, caregivers such as therapists, aides, and nurses offer both long and short-term services.
Home care assistance may be the key needed for a person to achieve the highest possible quality of life. It helps create a sense of security, safety, and independence. As such, it helps eliminate certain life stresses, help avoid unnecessary hospitalization, boost recovery, and even prevent hospital stays.
Types Of Home Care Assistance Services
It is important to note that not all home care services are the same. In other words, there are different types of home care, which are authorized by an individual who needs the service, and the service type may cover two or more other home care service types.
This is why it is wise to speak to a home care service provider and discuss your needs so that they can determine the kind of home care service that is best for you.
Generally, all home care assistance services can be grouped into three different types. They include:
Companionship And Personal Care (Non-Medical Care)
This type of service is known by many other names, such as companion care, assistive care, homemaker care, senior care, or home health aide service. The bottom line is, it is a non-medical care type of service, where its goal is to help a person with few daily activities such as dressing, bathing, household chores, meal preparation, and more.
The main aim of this service is to allow a person to be independent and safe. For this reason, this home care type comes with services that may include:
- Companionship (often involves engaging in activities and hobbies)
- Light housekeeping such as errands, laundry, and meal planning and preparation
- Medication reminder
- Appointment escorting
- Enabling safety while at home such as preventing falls while moving, transfer (from bed to wheelchair)
- Assist with self-care like dressing, bathing, or using the toilet
- Supervision for someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia disease
Home Health Care (Medicare-certified Home Health Care)
This type of home care is also known by other names, such as visiting nurse service or intermittent skilled care. This is a medical-based care service, but for short term and non-threatening health problems. In other words, this is a physician-directed type of care that is designed to help a patient recover or prevent injury, illness, or hospital stay.
Home health care may include services like:
- Physical therapy
- Short-term nursing service
- Speech-language pathology
- Occupational therapy
- Home health aide service
- Medical social work
Private Duty Nursing Care (Home-Based Skilled Nursing)
This type is also known by many other names like adult nursing, hourly nursing, shift nursing, nursing care, ventilator care, tracheostomy care, catastrophic care, or long-term nursing care. Unlike home health care, private duty nursing care is long-term and covers life-threatening disabilities, injuries, and illnesses.
Private duty nursing may include services like:
- Catheter care
- Feeding tube care
- Administering medication
- Monitoring vital signs
- Gastrostomy or ostomy care
- Tracheostomy care
- Ventilator care
- Severe disease and condition care like spinal cord injury (SCI), Traumatic brain injury (TBI), MS, or ALS.
Find more information here: https://homecareassistance.com/
