Many seniors want to age in place but eventually end up needing help. Luckily, there is home care for seniors in Santa Cruz, CA, to help them care for themselves and continue living independently.
What is home care?
Home care is non-medical assistance that professional caregivers provide at the person’s home. The goal is to help people with their daily tasks so they can stay in their homes and be as independent as possible.
Services include helping around the house, helping them take care of themselves, providing safe transportation, and offering companionship.
Ask yourself these 4 questions to determine if home care is right for you or your parent.
Home care services offered in Santa Cruz
Home care providers offer many different types of services.
Transportation
At some point, many seniors can no longer safely drive themselves. Home care offers transportation to take seniors to run errands, go to appointments, go shopping, go out to eat, or to any social activity.
They not only provide safe transportation but also can help them get to and in the car and then into wherever they are going.
Personal care
Personal care is where caregivers help seniors with their activities of daily living (ADLs) or the daily tasks we have to do to take care of ourselves.
ADLs include:
- Transfers- getting in and out of a bed/chair
- Mobility- moving around
- Eating
- Toileting- controlling their bowel and bladder, using the toilet, and cleaning themselves
- Personal hygiene- bathing, grooming, and brushing their hair/teeth
- Dressing- selecting clothes and getting dressed
Home caregivers can help with any of these tasks that seniors need help doing (including managing incontinence). If it’s unclear what tasks seniors need help with, they can utilize this ADLs checklist.
Personal care helps seniors take care of themselves, maintain good hygiene, and live as independently as possible.
Meal prep
Home care providers can help with meal planning and ensuring the senior is getting the proper nutrition. They can tailor the food choices to the individual’s dietary restrictions and food preferences.
They can also handle the grocery shopping, meal prep, and cooking.
From start to finish, home care can ensure seniors are getting nutritious and delicious meals.
Light housekeeping
Even for those who are young and healthy, it can be difficult to keep up with all the household chores, such as tidying, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, cleaning the bathrooms, washing dishes, and doing laundry. Many seniors need help around the house.
Home care offers light housekeeping services to help keep the house picked up and clean. This takes the tasks off the plate of the seniors and their families and allows the seniors to enjoy a clean and comfortable home environment without the stress and exertion.
Medication compliance
Studies have found that between 75%-96% of seniors frequently make mistakes taking their medications. This can include things like taking the wrong amount, skipping a dose, or taking the dose twice. It could also be because they don’t understand or forget the instructions.
Obviously, it is important for people to take their medication as prescribed, and home care providers can ensure medication compliance.
The caregivers can gather all the information on the prescriptions into one place, work with the senior to create a routine to fill their prescriptions, make sure the medicines are stored properly, organize the medicines, remind them, and monitor that the senior takes the correct dosage at the correct time.
Fall prevention
Home care can also prevent falls by keeping the house picked up and clean, helping seniors get in and out of chairs/bed, providing mobility assistance so seniors can safely walk around, helping to get them set up with any home modifications or mobility aids the individual may need, and ensuring the home is free from fall hazards (such as clutter, loose rugs or floorboards, or cords in walkways).
Supervision
An often overlooked but important benefit of home care is that seniors are being monitored by trained caregivers. They can ensure the senior is safe and well taken care of, thereby providing peace of mind to the senior and their loved ones.
Companionship care
Another service offered is companionship care. Caregivers are social connections for seniors and provide emotional support. They also facilitate mental stimulation through conversation, reading together, watching movies together, playing games, or helping the individual do their favorite hobbies.
Companionship care is a great way to ensure seniors avoid social isolation (a lack of social connections), which impacts nearly 25% of seniors 65 or older.
Companion caregivers in Santa Cruz can also help seniors explore the senior activities and resources in Santa Cruz.
Specialty care
Some home care providers (such as Pacific Angels) are also equipped to offer specialty care for seniors who are dealing with conditions such as Dementia/Alzheimer’s or stroke.
We also offer palliative or hospice home care to help make seniors more comfortable during these difficult times.
Respite care
Home care services are also a great way to give caregivers a break.
Respite care is when someone else temporarily takes on the caregiving responsibilities so that the primary caregiver can take care of themselves, attend to their other personal responsibilities, or practice self-care.
Respite care can range from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. Being able to have these breaks is essential for preventing caregiver burnout.
Why choose Pacific Angels Homecare?
Pacific Angels Home Care can help seniors in Santa Cruz be as independent as possible and age in place.
Our kind and experienced caregivers can supervise seniors and ensure they are safe. They also offer personal care to help seniors with their activities of daily living, meal prep, safe transportation, medication management, fall prevention, companionship care, respite care, and specialty care.
All of our caregivers are thoroughly screened and trained. We are available whenever needed (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and customize our services to each person’s needs.
Next steps? Get a free in home consultation
Those looking for home care for seniors in Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas in California, call us today at (831) 708-2876 or reach us online to schedule an in-home consultation to determine a care plan.
