Sometimes Dad or Mom simply isn’t able to do the laundry—but it doesn’t mean they aren’t able to live independently. With today’s choices for home aides, health care aides, and more, Mom or Dad can stay independent (with a little help!).

Home Aides & Assistance

Home health service representatives work in a variety of settings ranging from private homes to nursing facilities. A health care aide or home care assistant can provide services that make it possible for your loved one to live independently in their own home or more comfortably in an assisted living facility.

Home care aides and health care aides can help with:

• Bathing and dressing
• Light housekeeping
• Laundry
• Errands
• Cooking

At the independent living facility where I work, some residents hire aides to stop by in the late afternoon to help take off their shoes. You would be amazed how many seniors I know who can put their shoes on but, since their feet swell during the day, can’t take them off. 

Physical & Occupational Therapists

Occupational and physical therapists specialize in working with people to promote and maintain independence. There are all kinds of tricks to make life easier; sometimes they are so simple it’s hard for us to see them. It may be advantageous to work with a therapist if you are concerned or thinking about investing in assistance. The rehabilitation department at your local hospital, or your physician, should be able to direct you to a specialist.         

Medication Managers

Homemakers or home health aides can remind residents to take medication and keep them company while they do it. Medication management can be a problem. We work with a home health agency that sends an RN on a weekly basis to fill weekly pill packs, order prescription refills, take blood pressures, or monitor other on-going conditions. Some residents use the link-to-life service to remind them to take their medication. Be sure to check with your doctor regarding qualified medication management professionals.

It’s also a good idea to tell every one of your—or your loved one’s—physicians about every medication your loved one takes. Sometimes medications can conflict with each other, so it’s better to be safe at all times.

Gophers!

Home health aides can escort your loved one on walks or drive them to appointments. If you’re caring for your loved one at home, you already know how difficult it can be to time-manage when you’re working full-time and caring for your own family! Sometimes that 40-minute grocery trip isn’t worth doing on your own. Make a list and have someone else maneuver the long lines and traffic!

One company I work with is called Help Unlimited, which really describes what they can do. The employees at this company will prepare health insurance claims, balance checkbooks, prepare documents, and organize closets. They schedule appointments and arrange transportation. In one instance they helped a client select a pet from the pound and then arranged for a dog walker to take both the puppy and his companion out strolling. (Make sure any company you hire to provide financial management services is certified, and that your loved one’s money is safe!)

Devices, Robots, & More

Assistive technology ranges from the simple ergonomically designed swivel vegetable peeler to stoves with ceramic cooktops that eliminate the possibility of burns and reduce fire hazards to full-blown robots.

I just watched a video on robots that work in a nursing home. 

Pearle, a female R2D2, talks like a human and escorts residents around a nursing home. 

Pearle is programmed to turn her head in response to human voices and she has a magic finger to press elevator buttons and open electronic doors. The video on Pearle included a live Q&A with residents of a nursing home who had just met Pearle. Most of them enjoyed working with Pearle and were proud of their firsthand experience with cutting-edge technology. 

While watching the video, I loved it when an older woman in a wheelchair started to talk and Pearle cocked her head in response to her voice. The woman’s attention switched from the interviewer to Pearle as she said, “I enjoyed her, I mean, YOUR company, but you could have gone a little faster!” The robots are designed to supplement the workforce in hospitals and residential facilities, but many devices designed for home use are highly affordable. A Google search on assistive technology yields dozens of products and vendors, including familiar stores like Sears. 

Assistive technology is a growing field. It includes simple devices like padded undies/body bandages for men and women who are subject to falls, cooking devices, lamps with magnifying glasses and special bulbs for people with low vision, and bedside floor mats that assess foot tremors.

Attention & Well-Being

Most senior residences, including assisted living and nursing homes, will welcome your home health provider, health care assistant, and even your robot (if you ask!). Senior home professionals know how important individualized attention is and how much it can contribute to the resident’s sense of well-being. 

At the independent living facility where I work, we encourage families to hire home health providers if it makes their loved one’s life easier and more pleasant. Sometimes, a home care agency can provide medication management or another service that enables a resident to remain at our facility rather than move to assisted living. However, you do need to coordinate your caregiver’s activities and schedule with the staff.

Communication!

Talk to your loved one before you go shopping for devices or home health services. They need to be involved in the process and feel positive about it. Work together to make a list of areas where your loved one wants help and what kind of help your he or she wants and finds acceptable.

Sometimes Mom or Dad will resist getting outside help. One way to address this concern is to remind Mom or Dad that all managers have delegates! The home health aide, robot, or assistive technology is their employee. Their employee is designed to help them, not hinder them!

Your mom may be embarrassed to have an outsider manage her checkbook, but you can show her other ways to use her time or the time you have been using to do it.  Often assistance provides just the intervention needed to restore balance to a difficult parent-child relationship.

Preparing Your Home for Help

You also need to prepare the home for the home health provider. Put away valuables, mementos, and breakable items that you cherish. Putting them away is a courtesy to your professional caregiver; it also eliminates any possibility of damage or distrust. If “proofing” your home makes your loved one nervous, you might compare it to baby-proofing the house when their grandchild comes to visit. Better safe than sorry; and you wouldn’t want to blame your grandchild if something breaks!

Independence for Aging Parents

Helping aging parents remain independent is a conundrum; you wouldn’t be looking for ways to do it if you were not already worried about their ability to care for themselves. It is difficult to watch a loved one struggle to perform a task they used to do with ease.

Sometimes I almost sit on my hands to keep from grabbing the scissors from my mom but then I remind myself how much I dislike it when someone hovers over me (like the resident computer expert at work when I’m trying to work on the computer). Step back a moment before you consult a home health agency or buy a robot, and assess the situation. Ask yourself if your loved one really needs the extra assistance or is it simply a case of your being overcautious.

Only you and your loved one can determine what kind of help (if any) is needed, and continue to reassess the situation every few months. But remember: Assistive tools, technology, and people are there to help you and your loved one, and family caregivers could always use a bit of help! 

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