Some people prefer to age at home or live independently, rather than get admitted into an elderly home. Home health care is good for such people, especially if they have some health challenges.
Home health care is when a clinical practitioner or caregiver comes to take care of a patient in their home. This care can range from general care like housekeeping to highly specialized care like a wound care specialist nurse visit.
Whatever mode of health care you need, Countryside Home Health Care has professionals that can help you. So, let’s find out more about home health care.
Types of home health care
There are two basic subdivisions of home health care for the elderly: personal home care (non-medical) and proper home health care (medical). What’s required for a particular patient depends on the purpose of the care and how much assistance the patient needs.
Non-Medical Personal Home Care
Non-medical home care involves assistance with daily activities such as washing and housekeeping. The service providers are not trained medical providers but are trained helpers. Some examples of non-medical home care include:
Home health aid
A home health aid may help with household chores like grocery shopping, laundry, and meal preparation. Many, including Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), can offer additional services, such as turning, lifting, bathing, cleaning, and dressing the patient if they are unable to do it themselves, gathering and stocking medical supplies, and checking the patient’s vital signs like heart rate and blood pressure.
Companionship
Some patients might need someone to simply communicate with if they spend all their time homebound. A companion provides comfort, supervises the patient, and keeps them occupied with activities or conversational topics they enjoy.
Transportation
Some companies offer transport services to patients who need transportation to and from different places, usually a medical facility.
Medical Home Health Care
Medical home care focuses on patients that have health challenges which can be improved. It is administered with the aim of helping the patient resume to independent living. Treatment is administered by trained medical personnel like speech therapists, nurses, and physical therapists.
Nursing care
Nursing care is for seniors who need continuous medical care because of a disability or chronic condition. The treatment is administered by trained nurses, who provide specialized care like administering shots or dressing a wound.
Some laboratory tests, such as urine and blood tests, can be performed in the patient’s home by a qualified nurse. There are also portable x-ray machines and other diagnostic equipment that can be used in a patient’s home.
Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
These therapists help patients who might need help in relearning how to perform some daily activities or improve their speech or motor activities after an injury or illness.
Physical therapists can help a patient regain the use of the their muscles or joints. Occupational therapists help patients social or physical disabilities to relearn how to perform some daily duties. Speech therapists help patients with speech impediments to learn how to regain control of their speech.
Medical social services
These workers help in counseling a patient, locating resources in the community, and and helping the patient to recover, using various techniques.
Medical social workers provide various services to the patient, including counseling and locating community resources to help the patient in his or her recovery. Some social workers are also the patient’s case manager–if the patient’s medical condition is very complex and requires coordination of many services.
By understanding the various types of home care available, you can better prepare for the future. At Countryside Home Health Care, our team of health care experts will collaborate with you to determine the patient’s needs and find the best options available.
