The primary goal of companion care is emotional support and socialization. Our caregivers visit elderly adults who function independently in their own home environments. Our at-home visits help prevent loneliness, maintain social skills, stimulate positive thoughts, and offer an increased sense of purpose. Seniors have the creative freedom to decide how they would like to spend their time with us. Most of the time, this caregiver service involves doing brain-stimulating activities, playing games, watching TV, sharing stories, or taking short walks.

Seniors will have a full range of activities to choose from. We are not there to take away their freedoms; we are there to help them enjoy daily life just a little bit more. We help when and where we are needed without overstepping boundaries or making our seniors feel inadequate.

Our goal is to create a long-lasting friendship. Human contact is an incredibly powerful tool. We hope our seniors think of us like a friend who sometimes helps with the dishes, rather than a caregiver sent to “babysit.”

What's involved in good home care for seniors? It&s an excellent question and one that we take care to answer when we talk to families about the logistics of caring for an elderly family member in his or her home.

Here are some of the major aspects of the care that takes place, day in and day out, in senior home care services, to keep seniors safe and well cared for.

Personal Care

When someone survives a stroke, they usually have the goal of returning to live on their own, at home. However, even with the help of family caregivers, recovery is often challenging. At this point, family members may wonder what support services will promote the highest level of recovery.

Every year, it’s estimated that more than 800K people in the U.S. suffer a stroke. Approximately 140K of them will die, and many others will suffer a serious disability. As the U.S. population gets older, this rate is only going to increase; however, stroke is not just a disease that afflicts seniors. According to the CDC, approximately 34% of individuals hospitalized after a stroke were 65 years old or younger. The risk is going up as many younger people experience higher rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.

However, the trends are not all negative. Today, more stroke survivors than ever before have made a full recovery with no or minor long-term effects. What can stroke victims do to help increase the chances of regaining the highest level of function and independence?

It’s never easy to watch as a loved one ages and becomes less and less able to care for themselves. Whether it’s an aging parent, an aging sibling, or another loved one, you want to do your part to help ensure that they are able to enjoy a good quality of life. Of course, being a caregiver can ultimately be draining, leaving little time for your own responsibilities, or even to rest and recover. Respite care services can help. How might you and your loved one benefit?

What Is Respite Care?

First, we need to know a bit more about what respite care actually is. Really, the name says it all. This is a service offered by a senior care provider that provides you, the primary caregiver, with a respite from your duties. Whether you need a night off to spend with your own children, a bit of time for a family vacation, or simply need to split the load with someone, these services can help.

How Do You and Your Loved One Benefit?

So, how do you benefit from respite care services? It’s simple – you get the time away from your caregiving responsibilities that you need. Being a primary caregiver for an aging loved one can be draining emotionally and physically. It can be demanding on your time and attention, and can ultimately have negative ramifications for your entire life. A respite, or break, from those responsibilities gives you time to rest, recharge, reconnect with your loved ones, and more.

Qualifying for home health benefits means a few things. Obviously, it means that a home health professional will be hired to stop by your house every day (if not outright live with you) and see to your needs. What services are provided depend on what those needs specifically are. So, if you qualify for at home health services in Illinois, here are the main services that will be offered to you, depending on what your current situation is.

Nursing services

If your condition is medical in nature, then a skilled medical nurse will be instructed to help you around the house, or at least under the supervision of said nurse. These services include tube feedings. Changing catheters, providing injections, as well as the knowledge of how to self-inject, observation and management of your condition, evaluation of the care plan you’ve chosen, and finally caring for any physical wounds you may have suffered as a results of, or as a by-product of your condition.

Therapy service

This is when your condition is mental or behavioral in nature. These therapies include physical, occupational and speech therapy. These therapy services are vital and reasonable for helping you recover from an illness or injury that has left you physically or mentally impaired in some way. For physical training, you’re in for such practices as gait training and special exercises to help you regain movement in areas of your body. Speech therapy boils down to classes to help you regain your speaking skills. And finally, occupational therapy is to help you regain the ability to perform basic at-home function such as putting on clothes or eating.