Hiring a Caregiver for In-Home Health
As you or a loved one gets older, everyday life can become more and more strenuous. Walking up or down the stairs becomes tiresome. There are so many medications you must take on a regular basis, and missing a dosage can be hazardous. There are bills to collect and pots to clean. And every now and then, it’s difficult to even rise out of bed or the bathtub. This is completely normal and a factor from the human body aging. Luckily, there is an industry devoted to making these troubled lives easier: home care in Plano.
Home healthcare is an integral arm of the healthcare industry, one that is devoted to providing immediate, at-home assistance to the seriously ill, elderly, disabled, or convalescent. A senior in need of home care can receive everyday assistance with important tasks, as well as general health supervision.
The In-Home Difference
Before you consider sending an elderly or disabled loved one who cannot live alone into a nursing home or other long-term healthcare facility, you should give serious thought to hiring an in-home nurse for your loved one. Home health providers are nurses or nursing assistants who undergo extensive education and hands-on experience, and specialize in providing everyday care to those who cannot safely live or function alone.
Some of their services include assistance with mobility, taking medications, getting in and out of bed, using the restroom, performing self-hygiene tasks, and much more. Further, home health nurses also provide expert medical supervision, and can identify the signs of a health crisis or emergency, including severe pain, extremely low blood sugar levels, or high blood pressure. Homecare agencies can even provide rides to run errands or attend social events, as well as assistance with household care tasks.
Home health care is more common than you might think. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that almost 5 million Americans received some length of in-home care in the year 2013. As baby boomers age into seniority, this figure will continue to climb. While you might find this statistic staggering, it means that there are a wide number of institutions in place to serve a high demand. According to the CDC, there are over 12,000 home health agencies across the US, all of whom are devoted to providing hospital-quality nursing services in the comfort of their patients’ homes.
Determine If In-Home Care Is Necessary
Your first step before you hire in-home care is to receive a physician’s recommendation. your loved one’s primary care doctor or family doctor can determine if in-home care is necessary for them, or at least advantageous. Most agencies will provide in-home care to patients with some form of difficulty or disability. However, for the sake of insurance coverage, it’s vital to establish medical necessity, or proof that in-home care is important to providing a patient with an ordinary level of hygiene and safety at home.
Home Health Options
You can then research one of the many home health care agencies that likely operates near your or your loved one’s residence. A physician or the insurance company providing home health benefits will likely be able to recommend an agency. However, it’s fast and easy to research in-home care in Plano and may choose to consider the options that result from the search.
You should then try to legitimize any agency you find. Ask each agency for a list of credentials, their nurses’ education levels, and more. Inform them that you will only accept a licensed vocational nurse (LVN), home health aide (HHA), or certified nursing assistant (CNA). A nurse with a higher education level is acceptable as well, though this may come with even higher costs.
At this point, the agency will ask to learn more about the patient as well as their health insurance benefits. If the patient does not have covering insurance, then you may want to contact Medicare or your health insurance agency to add long-term care benefits to the patient’s plan. This will offset the costs. However, it’s also wise to ask each agency about their pricing and if they offer a sliding scale pricing plan for self-pay patients.
Start Your Search
Some people have common and sensible reservations about allowing a stranger into their home or a loved one’s home, as well as leaving this nurse alone with a patient who has serious health needs. However, the in-home nurses at 24 Hour Home Care are all trained medical professionals who are passionate about caring for those with everyday health-related difficulties. Further, we only staff nurses who are caring and personable, driven by passion for their patients. Our attentive staff is ready to assist with all manner of patient needs in the comfort of their homes, from maintaining health to walking assistance, and so much more. You can contact 24 Hour Home Care to learn more about our services, find and interview a home care nurse, and connect yourself or a loved one in need with home care in Plano.
