The best thing caregivers can do is learn as much as possible about their care recipient’s visual issues and how limiting they are. This information will help you find ways to modify the environment and your behaviour to allow for better care. Though individual conditions will vary and affect eyesight differently, the tips ahead are a good starting point to help visually impaired seniors. They will help them maintain a level of independence:
Good Lighting is Important
You should ensure you keep your surroundings well-lit, but you must also be careful about any glare. Using specialised bulbs and lamps to increase contrast and reduce glare is a good step, but you should also cover any reflective surfaces. Direct task lighting is suitable for reading, crafting and other activities requiring attention and sitting in place. You can use a small clip-on lamp or a gooseneck one. Under-the-counter lighting is another kind that works well with kitchen spaces and larger work areas. It would help if you avoided strong lights shining into a dark room. Task lighting being increased means the surrounding room lighting must also be improved. Keeping lights on during daylight hours may help equalise light from outdoor and indoor sources.
Eliminating Fall Risks
You should use nightlights in bedrooms, bathrooms and hallways to reduce any risk of tripping or falling during night hours. Eliminate all clutter and remove tripping hazards such as electrical cords or throw rugs. Think about replacing or at least relocating furniture that is difficult to see - side tables, glass coffee tables, etc. Create a wider and clear walking path that leads to all areas for easy navigation. You may have to change the positions of some furnishings to make your home easier to navigate. This may feel disorienting initially, so make sure you help your loved one get around until they memorise the new interior. Larger rearrangements may be a problem, especially for seniors with memory issues.
Improving Your Household Organisation
Combine visual and tactile sensations to help seniors to navigate their environment. You need to designate spots for more commonly used items, ensuring you return things where they belong each time, so your loved one will know where they are. Sometimes you can use a basket to store objects, making it easier to find keys, remotes and the like. Rubber bands, felt, raised plastic dots, sandpaper cutouts, and more can be used to differentiate objects tactilely. Visual systems use whatever vision remains in your loved ones to help organise and identify things. Typical examples may include larger labels or coloured stickers to help identify items and places.
Use of Contrasting Colours
The contrast between light and dark colours is significant for daily activities, especially in cases where the person has some remaining vision left. These colours help people with visual impairments to detect doorways, stairs, furniture, smaller objects and more. Examples can be seen with white cutting boards for preparing darker foods and darker cutting boards for lighter foods like onions, apples and so forth. That would allow your loved ones to retain some independence and promote their safety. This is especially important for settings like bathrooms, as they tend to be of monotone colours, which may be a risk. Choose towels, bath mats and washcloths in colours that contrast with the walls, the shower or tub, etc. The same goes for counters and flooring. Painting door jambs in a contrasting colour will help your loved ones spot the location of the door. You can do the same by painting the edges of steps and doors.
Ascertaining a senior’s ability to age safely in place is somewhat of a complex endeavour. Creating a customised solution to your needs can help a loved one, but that may require going through the residence together and assessing it on a room-by-room basis. Think about the potential hazards of the home that need to be addressed to make it safe, make a checklist and prepare ahead of time. You may need to do the following:
Live-in carers reside inside the home of the person they are caring for, thus having the ability to provide care at all times. Live-in carers have duties similar to those of hourly carers, assisting with medical conditions, but there is no rush to get things done. Live-in carers will also provide more support at home with cooking meals, running errands, taking care of pets, managing the household and more. The immediate availability of live-in care allows you to prevent falls, accidents and to help with hospital admissions if the need arises. The quick response provided by live-in carers can be greatly beneficial to your health. But there is more you can enjoy with this type of care:
The most important aspect of home care is companionship. In the UK alone, more than half of the people over 75 years old live alone, with many of them reporting feelings of isolation and loneliness. The risk of serious health conditions such as heart disease and feelings of loneliness have been linked by research into the condition. The risks of high blood pressure, stroke and similar conditions are also elevated. Ensuring a person’s social needs are also covered alongside their physical well-being is important to their general health. For those who receive care, having a trusting relationship with their carer is an important cornerstone of their dignity, since live-in care provides people with a solution for loneliness.
Hourly care services may be convenient for people who want to have as little disruption as possible in their daily lives. For live-in care, a bedroom in the home must be provided to accommodate the live-in carer and their belongings. That would allow them to adjust to the new living arrangements. The hourly care visits are usually arranged at times of the day suiting the household, meaning there is only a small degree of change that is necessary to ensure support at home.
In some cases, without the ensured assistance of a relative or a carer, people are restricted in how they can spend their lives. The help of a live-in carer ensures you will be able to carry out your daily life without worrying about the little details. Live-in care provides flexibility, as it encourages the elderly or those supported to enjoy activities outside their home, take part in their hobbies, community events, visit local attractions and more. On the other hand, hourly support outside your home must be arranged on a case-by-case basis with your care provider.
To ensure you have long term care, you must consider the costs involved in your circumstances. Both live-in care and hourly care have different costs, depending on the specific needs of a person, but domiciliary care is charged at an hourly rate, while the live-in care fees are every week.
When it comes to people with high dependency issues, the belief that care homes and residential care facilities are the only options out there is common. However, full-time live-in care can be a better option, something that allows the person to receive the specialist, expert assistance they need in the comfort of their home. Specialist live-in carers are trained with the knowledge to provide care for a range of conditions, such as Parkinson’s, dementia, Alzheimer’s and more. Many of the live-in care services out there are led by nurses, meaning their clinical duties can also be carried out within the client’s home. They can help people no matter what their condition may be.
One of the main reasons why caregivers choose this career path is because it is a rewarding and fulfilling one. The positive impact of it doesn’t just extend towards the people receiving care, but also those that provide it. Caregivers are open to new experiences and better relationships with others.
Whether it is access to new life skills, or just getting a better sense of purpose, the benefits of caregiving are many. Let’s have a closer look at some of them:
Choosing a care provider
There are many agencies out there that deal with care services. Whether it be care homes or live-in care, there are flexible options that exist to help elderly individuals and those with special conditions in need. It is important to know what sort of care you or your family members need before you set out to search. Sometimes it is possible to rely on care home service, and in other cases, an agency can provide a caregiver for live-in care service, which is essentially living with the person in need in their own home. When choosing a care provider, always remember to look for:
Home care is a very popular service that is gaining a lot of attention for a good reason. It can help the family of an elderly individual who cannot be left unattended. Instead of moving them to a care facility, the help is brought to them in the form of a professional carer who comes to visit them on a predetermined schedule.
With so much information on home care, it can sometimes be difficult to know what the reality is and what is no more than a myth. Following are some of the most widespread misconceptions, which you should stop believing now:
Understanding the misconceptions surrounding home care is important because only then can you fully realise the benefits of such service.
People living with dementia need to face a whole lot of challenges daily. Most of the time it is best to keep them in their own home because any change in the surrounding environment can trigger angry outbursts, confusion and stress. The best way to ensure this is the case is to go with a live-in care service.
Live-in care is something that can greatly help you and your relatives with dementia. Instead of you having to worry constantly about care, you can arrange for a professional carer to live with the seniors with dementia and deal with their needs. This is part of a live-in care service package, which you can get from an agency that specialises in this sort of service. The most important thing to remember is that you should consider asking some essential questions before you arrange things:
These are all important considerations and questions to ask when you arrange live-in care for a senior with dementia. Make sure to do so, to make the most of the service.
As far as caring for senior individuals goes, there is hardly any better option for them than live-in care. It is rated as one of the most reliable options for families that would otherwise struggle to provide support to their most vulnerable members. Many professional agencies offer this kind of service and more people have access to it.
There are many benefits to live-in care service, which everyone should consider. If you are now contemplating your options, definitely keep it in mind, because it makes a huge difference. Following are the main advantages:
There are many advantages to live-in care, which make it an ideal service for every senior. It is a good idea to consider them all.
When it comes to caring for a senior loved one or parent, you know there are several options for you to choose from. You can do the work on your own, but if you are in no position to do that when it comes down to moving the person to a care home or arranging live-in care for them.
Both of these options are great, as they mean the person will receive the help they need, all the while not being left on their own. However, live-in care is rising in popularity for a good reason. It has a few advantages over moving the person to a care facility:
All of these are major advantages of live-in care for seniors over a care home. Do consider them, if you are wondering which one to arrange.
For many people, elderly care is a necessity they have to consider. Whether it be ageing parents, or other loved ones, the burdens of growing old need to be met with special arrangements. The most typical solutions people resort to are residential care homes and live-in care service.
On the surface, both options aim to provide care for an elderly individual, who can no longer address life challenges on their own. However, there are major differences between the two services and it is only by knowing more about them that people can make an informed decision of which one is better for them. Following is a quick rundown of what both services are all about.
Residential care homes
In essence, care homes are a place where elderly individuals can receive round-the-clock care by professionals. A care home is a secure place where the caregivers can monitor the elderly and respond to any emergencies they have. While it is true that care homes often provide medical attention, they are not always specialised in treating certain conditions. Typically, elderly individuals share the common areas of the place – dining rooms, lounge, bathrooms, gardens, etc. Sometimes, care homes are equipped with individual bedrooms, while in other cases these areas are common as well and facilitate more than one person. The staff in the care facility provides meals, housekeeping services and any assistance with daily tasks – dressing, personal hygiene and mobility. Because the number of people varies, while the staff mostly remains the same, the level of care an elderly individual too can vary.
The benefits of a care home:
The disadvantages of a care home:
Live-in care services
Live-in care service enables the elderly to stay in their home and relies on a professional caregiver moving in with them. The caregiver provides support and help to the person, allowing friends and family some freedom to visit less often. The elderly don’t have to leave the familiar and safe environment of their home. The place needs to have a separate bedroom for the caregiver, however, since they will be staying in the home for a prolonged period. The caregivers for this job are well-qualified and trained to support low and mid-level needs. This means they can help the person get about, as well as aid them in tasks like toileting, dressing, washing, etc. They can also prepare meals to match the nutritional and diet needs of the elderly, as well as do some housekeeping.
The benefits of live-in care service:
The disadvantages of live-in care service:
When people gain a better understanding of what makes both the live-in care service and the residential care home service, they can make better decisions about themselves or their elderly loved ones. The most important thing is to consider all aspects of the service and choose in the best interest of the recipient of the service.
Live-in care is a service that can help many seniors feel comfortable and safe within their own homes. It is especially useful to consider it when said senior individuals are no longer able to cope with the challenges of daily life on their own. Oftentimes, it is their relatives who need to arrange the service.
If you are about to do so, you need to remember that it includes more steps than just contacting a live-in care agency. In this guide, we will go over what you need to do, to ensure the best service possible:
All of these are important considerations to make in regards to live-in care service. Always remember to address them as you arrange the service for a senior loved one or relative, to be able to make the most of the service.
If there is ageing loved one in your family, who can no longer take care of themselves alone, it is time to consider the options to provide help to them. Home care stands out as a fine alternative to moving them to a nursery home. There are plenty of benefits to resorting to such service and it is important to consider them all. In this guide, we will list the most obvious ones:
There are many benefits to home care service and it is important to consider them all when thinking whether to resort to it.
If you are a person with a passion for helping others, then a career in live in care is probably one that you have considered. It usually involves support for an elderly individual in their home, at a sustained and personalised level. It comes with a quality of service that is often different from what hourly care and home care settings provide. It gives you a chance to make a difference in the life of this person.
To face the challenges of the job, you need to possess certain characteristics. If the following is something you have, then live-in care is an option for you.
Knowing what it takes to be a caregiver can help you decide whether you are a good candidate for such a task.
Whether you have an elderly family member in need of help, or perhaps you are at an age where you feel you cannot manage alone, home care service is a fantastic thing to consider. Exploring the option of having a home carer close by is something that you should since it will provide an easy solution to the issue.
It is a good thing to remember then that picking the home care provider should be a careful process, and not something you do on a whim. Researching all of the options is mandatory, as is avoiding the common mistakes that people in the process of hiring a home care agency. In this article we take a closer look at these mistakes and how you can prevent them:
Avoiding all of these mistakes is a matter of getting the most of your home care service.