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.

Getting old isn’t easy and it’s a struggle that many people don’t understand until they have experienced. When you think of caring for an elderly parent or loved one, you may first consider their physical needs. If they can take care of themselves for the most part, people tend to think that all their needs are being met. Here are just a few of the reasons that you may consider companion services for elderly in Illinois.

Keep them Mentally Stimulated

As a child, have you ever been put on restriction? If so, do you remember how it felt to wish that you could go outside and have interactions with others? Now imagine this being an everyday reality. If your elder loved one is not able to go out to places alone or just jump up and go whenever they want to, he or she would get lonely. Even if that family member is living with you, there are going to be many times when they are at home alone while the rest of the family works and carries on with their lives. Having a companion there just to be able to talk to will help your elder loved one stay mentally stimulated and keep up with things that are going on outside of the house.

Keep them Safe

If you have a loved one that tends to want to move around a lot, having a companion there with them can alleviate the worry about them being out alone. You have probably heard a thousand times how times have changed. This is true, but you don’t want to restrict them from doing things that they like to do like visit the park or go out for a walk. It is also good to have someone to accompany them to doctor appointments and other errands that they may have to run. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people that do target the elderly population. Having a companion with them will decrease the chances of something like this happening.

European Best Care has been operating for fifteen years, offering unparalleled senior in-home care in Illinois. We work exclusively with our patients and their families to create bespoke elderly care plans. 90% of seniors wish to stay at home for as long as they possibly can. With European Best Care, we make that dream a reality. We allow seniors to feel independent in their homes while we are there to offer our assistance with daily tasks as needed. We recognize the importance for seniors to remain in a familiar environment and work hard to ensure they stay home for as long as feasible. Contact us today for a free in-home assessment to better understand how we can help your loved one feel safer, more comfortable, and more self-sufficient with a little help from our fully trained, professional, and devoted caregivers. We offer a vast range of in-home elderly care services to match the needs of each senior in our care. Our team of caregivers is handpicked. Their displays of trust, compassion, professionalism, and bedside manner go unmatched. All our staff is highly experienced in providing care for the elderly and experienced with many of the hardships that come along with this line of work. We are passionate about offering the highest quality elderly supervision services to our friends, family members, and strangers in our community. Our dedicated caregivers help maintain a high quality of life for your loved ones who wish to remain living safely at home.

It’s ok to sometimes disengage from your family caregiving responsibilities. Allow a senior professional caregiver to take over for short periods of time. We are here to work with you to give your loved one the possible care.

Our caregivers can visit your loved ones for a few hours a day or several times a week. Family members who are acting as the primary caregiver can use this time to run errands, work, rest, shop, or even take a vacation. We are here to work with you to create a personalized care plan that fits you and your loved one’s schedules. We understand your schedule is complicated, and trying to juggle all of your basic needs while providing care for an elderly loved one can lead to stress and emotional exhaustion.

Our kind, compassionate, and friendly caregivers are available as-needed to care for your senior loved ones while you take the time to concentrate on your personal life. Staff members will engage in friendly conversation while assisting seniors with daily tasks, individual, and home care needs. Don’t let your caregiving role burn you out, taking time out for yourself will only make you a more fit caretaker for your loved one.