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Deciding on proper in-home caregiving for your loved ones can be an arduous task. There are many key factors that must be considered when acquiring in-home help for your family members.
What is In-Home Care or a Caregiver?
There are two types of basic home care services, skilled care and personal care. Skilled care is provided by healthcare professionals, while personal care is provided by home health aides who help with basic tasks such as bathing and grooming. In most cases, both types of healthcare are only covered by Medicare and Medicaid for short periods of time and require doctor verification that the patient is homebound. You can read more about these on the AARP website.
So You’ve Chosen Your Type of Care, What’s The Next Step?
Once the proper type of care has been determined, there are a variety of agencies that can assist you in finding the right in-home care worker. AARP has listed the most common options on its website which are also listed here:
- Medicare-Certified Home Health Agencies – These agencies are licensed by the state and provide skilled service workers that are pre-approved by Medicare and Medicaid.
- Licensed Home Care Agencies – Here you will find nursing and personal care services.
- Nonmedical or Companion Agencies -This is your best resource for finding home helpers, companion and errand services. These typically are non-licensed local affiliates of larger national companies.
- Employment and Registry Agencies – These agencies give lists of nurses and aides that can be contacted and paid directly out of pocket.
If you’re not sure which of these options is right for your loved one, there is also the Eldercare Locator which was designed to determine the proper care for your specific situation.
If your loved one requires in-home caregivers or home care due to decreased mobility it may also be time to consider a Stannah Stairlift. A stairlift will allow them to navigate the stairs of their home easily and reduce the risk of injury. Here you can find more information about Stannah Stairlifts and how Stannah can help.