Homecare is a great way to provide your loved ones with quality care. It keeps those you cherish safe, independent, and happy to live a good life.
If you’ve decided to bring a caregiver into your home to assist your loved one with housekeeping, personal hygiene, running errands, and general daily tasks, you probably have many questions.
These questions could range from what you should do to set up your home for homecare to the arrangements you need to make to get the best results when bringing a caregiver into your home.
You are likely anxious about this new development because it means committing an outsider to care for the people who matter most to you and entrusting them with your personal space.
However, while this experience can come with uncertainties, there are steps you can put in place and things you can do to set up your entire home for homecare the right way. Doing this makes the homecare experience worthwhile for you, those you care about and your caregiver.
This guide will present factors you need to consider when setting up your home for homecare to avoid complications and get the best outcome.
Let’s get into it.
Know Your Caregivers Responsibilities
It’s crucial to be familiar with your caregiver’s responsibilities. Knowing your caregiver’s roles in your home informs you on what to expect (and what not to expect) from them. This knowledge will help you define the roles clearly.
Below are the possible responsibilities of a caregiver:
- Personal Care Support: Providing personal care is one of the primary roles of a caregiver. It can range from bathing to grooming and assisting with exercise routines.
- Food Preparation: Your caregiver should assist with essential meal preparation.
- Healthcare assistance: A caregiver should facilitate doctor’s appointments and oversee medication usage.
- Running Errands: Your caregiver should do the basic running around for your loved ones. This could include shopping for necessities, picking up dry cleaning and/or dropping off prescriptions at the pharmacy.
- Housekeeping: Your caregiver should assist in keeping the house clean and doing basic laundry.
- Emotional Support: Your caregiver should provide companionship and emotional support for your loved one.
- Mobility Aid: Your caregiver should help your loved one move from place to place, such as getting out of the wheelchair or car and taking walks when required.
Please make time to have a conversation with your caregiver on each of these and other roles to ensure their expectations align with yours and to prevent a clash of interests in the future.
Set Boundaries for Privacy
A significant concern for people planning to set up their homes for homecare is privacy. Many people think inviting a caregiver into their home won’t give them the privacy they need to live as a family.
However, hiring the caregiver’s services doesn’t equate to an intrusion of privacy when necessary measures are put in place.
How do you go about this? The first step is to ask yourself how to make the caregiver aware of the family members’ privacy boundaries while attending to your loved one in your home?
Next, what room should your caregiver use? Where are the places of entrance and exit? Which areas in the house are out of line? Communicating these and other things you consider private will help you set the required boundaries you need to enjoy your privacy.
Organize Caregiving Supplies
An essential factor in setting your home for home care is putting the necessary caregiving supplies in the right place for easy accessibility. Organizing supplies such as your loved one’s food provisions, medications, toiletries, and purchasing kitchen gadgets to make care easier for your caregiver.
Also, organize what your caregiver would need to be comfortable while doing their job in your home, such as where they will hang their coats, put their luggage, and store their food items. Appropriate organization of supplies for your caregiver makes their work easier.
Install Required Medical Equipment
Provide the essential medical equipment required to give your loved one the best care needed. This medical equipment may include: a walker, wheelchair, bedside commode, geriatric chair, transfer belt, or a medical overbed table.
Putting medical equipment in place also help to facilitate a smooth homecare service experience for your loved one by reducing stress and ensuring quality care.
Make Considerations for Comfort
Put necessary items in place to keep your loved one, caregiver, and visitors comfortable in the home. For example, consider installing curtains for privacy and making it easy to adjust the home’s light, sound and temperature.
Install comfortable chairs for your loved ones, caregiver and visitors to watch television, read and relax comfortably. You can also consider making snacks and drinks accessible for visitors who visit your loved one.
Make Considerations for Safety
Put adequate measures in place to ensure proper safety in the home. It would help to remove items that can cause people to trip and fall in the rooms and hallways. Ensure sufficient illumination in the home at night and install non-slip materials in the home. Consider installing handrails and grab bars to provide your loved one with stability and support when moving from place to place.
Ensure Bathroom Safety
Many unexpected trips to emergency rooms occur due to bathroom accidents that could have been avoided if safety precautions were taken. The best way to ensure bathroom safety for your loved one is to put materials in place to aid their activities in the bathroom. As previously stated, consider installing grab bars and safety rails to help your loved one maneuver, particularly in the bathroom. Install non-slip mats to prevent slips, and purchase shower or bath chairs to enable safe bathing for your loved one.
It would help to install a door stop security alarm in the bathroom, in the event your loved one gets stuck and needs external assistance. Also, basic bathroom necessities should be placed within reach so your loved one won’t have to stretch or bend to reach items. Putting these essential bathroom necessities in place is crucial to guarantee your loved one’s safety in the bathroom.
Help Your Caregiver Understand Your Lifestyle
Your caregiver needs to know your daily routine in the home to adapt and get things right. You should communicate with them about you and your loved one’s lifestyle habits, such as when they have breakfast, have their bath, nap, etc.
You should also share the principles and religious reservations you think your caregiver should know.
Create Emergency and Medical Contacts Lists
When setting up your home for homecare, it’s essential to consider emergencies. An effective way to prepare for emergencies is to create personal emergency contacts and medical contacts lists. A personal emergency contacts list contains your number, close family members or family friends your caregiver can contact when an emergency arises.
The medical contacts list contains the contact details of your loved one’s primary care physician, optician, dentist, and other health care specialists. Inform anyone who will appear on the personal emergency contacts list that emergency calls can occur at any time of the day or night, so they can be fully prepared for emergency situations such as a sudden falls or unexpected illness. Remove anyone from the personal emergency contacts list who feels it would be problematic for them to be on the list.
Give Room for Questions
Invite questions from your caregiver. Let him or her know you are open to answering any questions they may have to navigate their roles efficiently.
You should also ask your caregiver if there are other ways to help them attend to your loved one? Are there other things they need, such as equipment, literature, etc., to deliver the best care for your loved one? Ensure to give room for questions.
Conclusion
Like many people, you may be anxious about homecare. However, preparing your home for homecare services is the best way to get a positive experience. In this article, we provided several key points to put in place when setting up your home for homecare to achieve the best results. Success in reaching your goals.
