As a non-medical home care service provider for seniors, I find myself continually trying to educate our clients on one simple point: USE THE SERVICE!!! In other words, what more can we do for you in your home?
Home care providers offer many services such as housekeeping, companionship, medication reminders, errands, laundry, meal preparation, etc. How many of these services are our clients utilizing? I have several clients that want visits during the day but seem to have a hard time asking for assistance with housekeeping items around their homes. My theory is simple… we are there to help in any way that we can.
Pay for in home caregivers is typically based on a per hour rate. In other words, the cost for a visit is the same as a cost for a visit while tidying up the living room. We need to stress this to the client and or the client’s family.
Accepting help is a challenge for many Seniors and some clients may feel that having help means losing independence. However, having help also gives one the ability to not worry about completing the little tasks on a daily basis. That creates more time for our clients for the things they enjoy. If our clients could view us more like personal assistants we then could provide a more thorough service. As for the clients that still enjoy some of the daily tasks, how about doing them with the client? Meal prep and errands might less daunting with companionship.
We need to continually stress to the client that we are there for them. Let us be more helpful…we love our jobs and it is after all what we are there for. Home care providers believe in helping seniors maintain independence and we are able to do that by providing a vast array of services. Are we helping our clients use the service?
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