When It’s Time to Find a Care Provider for Your Loved One
Knowing the right time to find a care provider for your loved one isn’t always easy. Many families struggle with feelings of guilt and apprehension when it comes to hiring a new person to come into their parents’ or loved ones’ homes. Before making the decision to hire a care provider, it’s important to know all the facts about home care assistance services. Let’s uncover what exactly a care provider does, along with the telltale signs that your loved one needs senior care services.
What Is a Care Provider vs. a Caregiver?
A care provider is a trained professional who takes care of clients who have varying levels of needs. They may provide full-time support or simply visit clients for several hours each week. Care providers have a background in personal care, meaning they can perform services, such as checking blood sugar levels, personal grooming, and creating meal plans based on dietary needs.
A caregiver is often a family member or close friend who takes care of their loved one. They are responsible for ensuring their loved one is getting the proper level of care based on their personal needs. This individual often has limited experience in care providing, as they are usually the adult children of their aging parents. Often, caregivers start out helping their loved ones, eventually recruiting professional help or resources to fill in the gaps and provide additional support.
Here are several ways care providers and caregivers differ:
- Expertise: A care provider has a solid foundation of experience and training before they help patients who are elderly or disabled. A caregiver often has little to no experience in this field prior to taking care of their loved one.
- Knowledge: A care provider knows what excellent care looks like. They know how to help clients with their nutritional, medical, and emotional needs. A caregiver may need to use online resources and a network of experts to help them figure out how to provide their loved one with the proper care.
- Relationship: A care provider establishes a professional relationship with their clients. They understand that getting help with things like toileting and bathing can be challenging for some clients to accept at first. A caregiver tends to have a much more intimate relationship with their loved one. They may want to create certain barriers with them to keep their relationship thriving.
What Does a Care Provider Do?
While the duties of a care provider can vary based on their client’s needs, here are several services they can provide:
- Help clients with daily grooming activities, such as bathing, toileting, and getting ready for their day
- Assist clients with daily exercises, joining them on walks or exercise classes
- Cook nutritious meals for clients, based on dietary needs and personal preferences
- Perform light housekeeping duties, such as vacuuming, washing dishes, organizing clutter, and dusting
- Accompany clients to social functions, helping them stimulate social connections
- Assist clients with their favorite activities, such as gardening, caring for a pet, or visiting grandchildren
- Coordinate doctor and personal care appointments for clients
What Is the Value of a Care Provider?
Care providers are a valuable resource for families for the following reasons:
Reduces Stress on Family Members
Being your loved one’s caregiver can quickly become a full-time job. Between helping your loved one get to doctors’ appointments, manage their medications, and shop for groceries, there is often little time for yourself. While it’s hard to admit, being a caregiver for mom or dad can lead to stress and resentment. By hiring a care provider, you can have more time for the other obligations in your life.
Ensures Proper Care of Your Loved One
Becoming a care provider takes extensive training and requires specific certifications. This is why it’s unreasonable for family members to take on all this work while they also have their own jobs and families to manage. By hiring a care provider, you’re ensuring your loved one is getting professional care from someone who specializes in healthcare at home in addition to general personal care.
Allows You to Cherish Time With Your Loved One
When you feel like you only see mom or dad to help them with their personal care, you may grow irritable when it’s time to pay them a visit. Relationships can’t thrive when you’re solely doing things for the other person. By having a professional care for your parents, you can use your precious time together for more enjoyable activities. Imagine having more time to bring the grandchildren over to their house without having to also worry about scheduling your parents’ doctors’ appointments and managing their meal plans.
Enables Your Loved One to Be More Independent
While it may seem contradicting, hiring a care provider to help your loved one can actually enable them to be more independent. By having regularly scheduled care, your loved one no longer needs to reach out to others for support. They can focus on their own lives more, having their care provider assist them with what they want to do. Now, they can easily go on a walk or attend social functions without having to coordinate with family members’ schedules. Their care provider is available to help in any way, supporting your loved one’s ability to make decisions on their own.
When Do Families Need Care Providers?
Families need care providers when it’s becoming difficult to manage their loved one’s care on their own. While some caregivers simply need an occasional break from their caregiving duties, others may have loved ones in need of 24/7 care, which isn’t reasonable for those with their own jobs and families. By hiring a care provider, you can increase your own bandwidth and get better care for your loved one.
Without finding the proper services, you and your loved one may become overwhelmed by your situation. By knowing you have a team of care-providing experts on your side, in addition to our extensive resources, you can trust that your loved one’s care is in good hands.
Not All Care Providers Are the Same
Having the right eldercare for your loved one starts with teamwork. Since care providing is an immersive career choice, industry turnover can be high. Not every home care agency treats its staff as it should. That’s where CareProvide comes in. We understand that giving our clients excellent care requires having a team of highly skilled and happy care providers.
We achieve this by investing in employee enrichment through our Inspiration Lab. Essentially, our Inspiration Lab involves a series of training to help our team members grow in their careers. We also provide hands-on support to our team, giving them weekly tips on how to be better care providers. Our staff also have access to a network of fellow care providers who they can go to for advice, support, and camaraderie.
Our team understands that it’s essential to support caregivers. By taking over the duties outlined in our INSPIRED™ framework, we can help your loved one live a more meaningful life. We design all of our services to provide your loved ones with individual attention that can lead to the enhancement of their quality of living.
Ready to find a care provider in the Annapolis area for your loved one? Connect with our team today.