Living Through The COVID-19 Pandemic- Why Every Senior Citizen Needs A Home Care Aide

It wasn’t long after Coronavirus became a global scourge that a disturbing new revelation surfaced: Elderly individuals are at a heightened risk of contracting the illness and succumbing to the same.

 

As such, governments and health organizations have unequivocally cautioned this segment of the populace to minimize contact with not just younger demographics, but peers as well.

The result is that seniors now find themselves more isolated than ever. As much as it is for the greater good, social isolation has only made life much more difficult for the elderly. It’s left them lonelier and, for those who’re already dealing with other age-related challenges, in potentially unsafe environments.

Does that sound familiar? If you have an older relative — or are a senior citizen yourself — this situation presents quite a tricky dilemma. How can you make life easier and safer for your loved one without putting them at risk? Or how do you ensure your needs are attended to in an age of social distancing? Read on to find out why non-medical in-home care might just be your best bet.

Non-Medical In-Home Care: A Background

Research suggests that 7 out of every 10 individuals who turn 65 will require long-term care of some kind sooner or later. And the reason is simple: As much as we hate to admit it, our bodies deteriorate with age. There’s a certain point past which we can no longer accomplish tasks that once seemed straightforward; not on our own effort, anyway. This is where non-medical in-home care, also known as custodial care/private care/personal care assistance, comes in.

All these terms refer to a set of services designed to help the elderly, victims of disability, and individuals recovering from illness/injury in their daily lives. These services are provided within the confines of the recipient’s abode, rather than an established facility. They’re typically dispensed by caregivers who are not medically trained, but skilled nonetheless — hence the name. These professionals are known as Personal Care Aides (PCAs) or Home Care Aides (HCAs).

In the context of senior living, custodial care has traditionally been sought by individuals who wanted to remain in their own homes (age in place) in spite of physical/cognitive shortcomings; those who needed assistance to sustain one’s daily routine, but who weren’t keen on moving into nursing homes. Here, a caregiver will usually be tasked with a handful of responsibilities depending on the kind of assistance needed:

– General mobility: Offering help with getting in and out of bed, walking, sitting, standing, etc.

– Housekeeping: Cleaning, laundry, gardening, shopping, and any other household chores a senior might need help with. The aide might also manage bills and appointments on the person’s behalf, in addition to running light errands.

– Personal care: Assistance in personal care routines like bathing, grooming, dressing, and exercise.

– Meal preparation

– Healthcare monitoring and supervision: While they’re not qualified to diagnose or treat conditions, home care aides can still supervise prescriptions. They can also check up on the individual to see how they’re responding to treatment, taking note of progress and any anomalies that might develop.

– Companionship and emotional support: Spending a great deal of time with the patient, home care aides offer constant companionship and support in various matters, including the more-personal and sentimental.

Aging in place has been growing popular over the last few years as more senior citizens look to retain their independence. But with COVID-19 wreaking mayhem across communal living facilities, aging in place is emerging as the only sustainable option going forward. And given the necessitated estrangement from family, it’s becoming clear that just about every senior could a home care aide.

No Place Like Home

Prior to the pandemic, the larger majority of family caregivers and decision-makers for elderly citizens preferred to send their loved ones to assisted living facilities or nursing homes. But that all changed once these communities became hotspots for COVID-19. It’s evident that while senior care facilities can offer certain benefits, they cannot be relied upon to properly look after loved ones.

A home care aide showing affection to an elderly man

And of course, no other environment can match the familiar surroundings of your own home, especially once you get into your post-retirement years. Research shows that seniors who age in place fare much better than their counterparts in assisted living facilities. In such a community, your loved one will be surrounded by people whom they don’t know or trust. This makes them feel vulnerable, which is the last thing anyone wants in an era of increasing uncertainty.

Custodial care offers seniors a sense of comfort and safety that no senior living facility can provide. Your loved one, instead of having to uproot their life in order to receive care, will remain in the same environment they’ve known for so long. Caregivers are also crucial in helping seniors maintain a familiar routine; this is crucial for victims of Alzheimer’s and dementia. With in-home care, there’s no need to make drastic changes that could upset your loved one’s condition.
Any adjustments that might be necessary to enhance safety will be made in a minimally invasive and carefully thought-out manner.

A Renewed Sense of Independence

Every adult wants to lead an independent life. The desire to continue doing so for as long as possible is a huge concern for seniors. In practice, though, this determination doesn’t always translate into ability. Even if our wits stay sharp, the body might not be as cooperative in supporting our daily routines. Consequently, activities that we might have enjoyed in the past start becoming less and less pleasant, gradually turning into a source of pain.

COVID-19 presents yet another setback for old-timers looking to continue leading normal lives. The containment measures adopted in the immediate wake of the pandemic forced quite a few seniors to quit certain hobbies (sightseeing, going to the movies, shopping, and such). Even as these measures continue to be relaxed in most regions, genarians are still generally advised to “keep sheltering in place.”

This, combined with the inability to partake in the little pleasures of life at home, has left most seniors feeling bleak, deprived, and bitter to a certain extent. After all, it’s this phase of life that offers the best chance to pursue one’s interests — maybe you’d even put lots of effort into keeping your body fit over the years to make that possible. Only for a new virus — a microscopic organism for crying out loud — to come and throw a spanner in the works.

Helpless as you might feel, non-medical home care will go a long way towards improving the state of affairs. It will empower you to pursue your hobbies, and your helper will take over the stuff that drains your energy and enthusiasm. Let’s say, for example, you love baking but have abandoned the hobby because the cleanup process is too taxing; your caregiver will do the dishes so you can enjoy the rest. They could also fetch books from the library on your behalf, allowing you to continue your reading hobby without putting yourself at risk.

It’s safe to say that having this kind of help readily available at hand will re-open doors that previously seemed closed off for good. Who knows, it could even pave way for new pleasures. Your caregiver will introduce you to activities that are related to your interests, but which you hadn’t considered before. These new hobbies will make up for older pastimes that no longer seem suitable to your lifestyle.

While this new sense of personal independence won’t necessarily entail doing everything on your own, that itself will prove a huge relief. Instead of having to sweat out the tiny bits, you’ll be able to focus on the ‘big-picture’ stuff you enjoy.

Reliable Companionship

To say that our old-timers are badly in need of companionship would be an understatement. Just about all of them already felt desolate even before the coronavirus came along — even before the stay-at-home-and-avoid-unnecessary-contact advisories.

There’re lots of factors that can contribute to isolation among seniors. Retiring from the workplace sees you lose a huge part of your social network; the constant companionship provided by your colleagues around you. Couple that with the demise of a spouse, and the prospect of going for days without having someone to talk to suddenly becomes real.

Sounds grim, but it’s all too easy to take for granted the state of isolation that our older generations find themselves trapped in. More so in the current era of social distancing — when family members who previously provided company are urged to keep off. Though crucial in shielding the highly vulnerable demographic, it’s also left them “really lonely,” as one elderly lady reported, adding that, “the longer it goes on, the harder it becomes.”

Multiple studies have shown that loneliness is gravely detrimental to human health. Besides inviting all manner of mental issues, being trapped in a state of loneliness can exact as much damage on the body as smoking 15 cigarettes a day would in the long term.

And so, engaging a personal care aide could be one of the best things you ever did for your elderly kin. Don’t take for granted the fact that they’re still able to go about daily activities without help — your loved one(s) still need someone to talk to and keep them company. The caregiver will fill up the void created by not having other family members around; by your inability to visit frequently due to fear of exposing your relatives to the virus.

For that matter, the home care aide’s presence will go a long way in easing the estrangement between the two of you. The caregiver provides assistance in setting up video calls and other communication channels (yes, it’s also easy to forget that old-timers aren’t as conversant with technology as we are). This newfound ability to keep in touch with the family will be extremely beneficial for your loved one’s wellbeing. Whatever worries and concerns about exclusion they might have harbored before will instantly evaporate.

Custodial Care is Personalized

Once again, non-medical in-home care is your best bet if your loved one has health issues that require constant attention or just need a helping hand around the home. The services can be scaled up to ensure the person is looked after in the best way possible, with the assistant handling everything from personal grooming to transportation. You also have the ability to control how support is extended — without having to jump through endless bureaucratic hoops as is the case with assisted living communities.

Home care further allows seniors to live according to their wishes and priorities, instead of having to conform to rigid institutional mechanisms. This is especially important for individuals who have specific dietary needs; a dedicated caregiver will do whatever’s necessary to keep your loved one well-nourished. The constant contact will further make it possible to cultivate a cordial relationship — something that’s seldom possible in a communal setting. With most senior living facilities facing staff shortages as a result of the pandemic, only personalized in-home care can guarantee that your senior relative will be properly looked after.

Assistance in Exercising Safeguards

Experts have repeatedly advised us that our abilities to keep COVID-19 at bay will come down to how well we practice the recommended safeguards. These include:

– Washing our hands frequently with soap and water/hand sanitizer.

– Social distancing: Minimizing close contact with others and avoiding crowds.

– Disinfection: Thoroughly cleaning surfaces that we touch often, including doorknobs, light switches, countertops, phones etc.

For senior citizens, the ability to practice these measures consistently can be the difference between staying healthy and falling victim to a potentially deadly illness. With that in mind, in-home support will play a huge role in keeping your loved ones shielded from the virus. The caregiver will not only keep an eye on them, but they will also assume the more involving tasks like disinfection. Additionally, having a PCA at hand to help with shopping means your loved ones will always be stocked up on commodities of daily need.

Someone to Protect Your Love-One From Scams …

Scams are yet another issue that’s increasingly affecting seniors in the wake of the pandemic. From fake stimulus checks to snake oil merchandise touted to cure COVID-19, seniors are being targeted with all manner of cons. Regrettably, these schemes have succeeded in depriving quite a few individuals of their hard-earned savings.

Now, there’s no denying that scams targeted specifically at the elderly are nothing new. Looking to capitalize on their stable finances, fraudsters have always gone to great lengths to put old-timers in their crosshairs. The pandemic has however worsened what was already an acutely dire situation, sowing uncertainty and confusion across the demographic. Paired with isolation from family members who might’ve offered a skeptical eye, this has made seniors ripe for swindling by a growing cabal of fraudsters.

But what’s particularly worrying about scams is the devastation they cause. Depriving each victim $120,000 on average, they take away a huge chunk of the savings that one had put aside for their golden years. This leaves them highly vulnerable to illness, poverty, and ironically, to more scams down the road.

If you’re concerned that your loved one could be a prime target for scams — which is likely the case if they’re living alone — you might want to bring a personal care aide into the picture. While they won’t exactly have the final say in your relative’s financial affairs, they will greatly help by maintaining a watchful eye.

You can make arrangements for them to notify you of any suspicious schemes that the person suddenly takes an interest in. Caregivers can also assume the job of keeping up with and paying utility bills, something that most seniors have trouble with — and which fraudsters are always keen to take advantage of. Last but not least, companionship provided by the aide will ward off feelings of loneliness and isolation that scammers might be looking to exploit.

…And Offer Respite When You Need it

In-home care isn’t meant only for seniors who are isolated from kin and living alone as a result. Even those who’re receiving support from other family members stand to benefit. A private caregiver can step in when the latter is unavailable or just needs a break.

On that note, it must be highlighted those caregiving experts hefty demands, and even the most dedicated of individuals will reach a point where they start feeling overwhelmed. More so if they have other things to attend to — and probably having to take time off their schedules in order to make themselves available. A PCA will offer some much-needed respite here.

Now, it’s not to say that in-home aides are immune to fatigue. They are, however, better equipped to handle it, being professionally trained for the job. A PCA will save your family caregiver from any feelings of resentment brought about by having to devote a great deal of attention to someone else. This offers the assurance that, at any given point, your elderly loved one will be receiving the care and support they need to weather the pandemic.

Hiring a Non-Medical Home Care Provider: What You Need to Know

That you’ve seen the various ways in which you or your loved one stands to benefit from in-home custodial care is all well and good. But maybe you’re not quite convinced that engaging the right giver is the right move. To that end, we can help you make the right decision by addressing some myths associated with this form of care:

– It is too expensive: Contrary to popular opinion, custodial care won’t cost any more than a communal facility will charge you. If anything, it could be cheaper depending on the kind of services your loved one requires. And as highlighted before, care packages can be adjusted to match specific needs without breaking your budget.

– Caregivers take the place of the family: Once again, personal care aides are supposed to provide respite for family members who might be fulfilling the duty, rather than replace them entirely. Your senior loved one will still be surrounded by familiar faces and voices.

– It’s not suitable for long-term needs: Given the fact that in-home support is often prescribed for convalescents, it’s understandable why some people might view it as a stop-gap solution. But that’s not actually the case —Home care aides are trained to handle the evolving and diverse needs of seniors of all ages. As long as your loved one is satisfied with the arrangement, there’s no need to ever change a thing going forward.

Ultimately, everyone can agree that the transition to one’s golden years shouldn’t be accompanied by a decline in quality of life. Not even in the middle of a pandemic that’s increasingly targeting seniors. Our personal care aides are committed to helping you or your loved one write the next chapter of life in the most comfortable fashion. Get in touch with us at Boca Home Care Services today for a free consultation. (561) 989-0611

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