If you did not already know, home care is a service that involves providing assistance to individuals in the comfort of their homes. This type of care is commonly offered to senior veterans that are no longer able to complete certain tasks. When aging veterans struggle to do certain things, it helps to have a home care aide around to assist while still allowing them to live independent lives in a place where they feel most comfortable. Rather than living in a nursing home or assisted living center, senior veterans may prefer to receive home care services.

What Are Some of the Options?

If a senior has been diagnosed with certain medical conditions, the individual may need the extra help from a trained professional when it comes to doing certain things and getting around to different places, such as the doctor’s office and the supermarket. When receiving care at home, the caretaker can assist with cooking and cleaning while providing companionship to the senior.

There are specific tasks that most people can easily complete at home on their own, including getting a shower or bath, preparing a meal, getting dressed, and even keeping the house clean. However, aging veterans may struggle with these tasks that would seem simple to most people simply because they suffer from different ailments and conditions that keep them from doing things they once did. An experienced home care aide can provide various services to help the senior veteran, whether the individual needs help with bathing, getting dressed, or having a meal prepared.

Health Care Right at Home

When an aging individual receives home care, he or she is getting help with basic tasks. However, health care at home is also available and is usually provided to seniors after they have been hospitalized for a bit due to an ailment or diagnosis. A home health care professional could clean out wounds, dress wounds, make sure the client is taking medication at the right time, help with injections, or even assist with different forms of therapy. It is offered to seniors by trained experts in the medical field, including registered nurses or licensed practical nurses that have a passion for helping other people feel better.

Constant Care on a Long-Term Basis

Some senior veterans may need to receive home health care on a long-term basis due to their medical conditions. Some of these conditions would include brain injuries and multiple sclerosis. Trained and experienced nurses could provide around the clock care for the client. They would administer any medication or injections and help with other medical-related tasks that may be required of them based on the condition of the client.

At-Home Quality Care

If a veteran is struggling and needs help at home, family members often take on the task of acting as caregivers to help their loved one. The family members may work as a team with home health aides to provide services to their loved one both day and night.

Help From the Family

It is certainly not uncommon for family members to take on the responsibility of providing the best care to their aging loved ones. Most family members do this out of the kindness of their own hearts and do not get paid for the services they are providing. They may assist with transporting their loved one to grocery stores and appointments, help with housework, and even cook meals.

Most family members that act as caregivers are dedicating at least 24 hours throughout the week to assist their loved one with different types of tasks. The research report can be found here.

Home Care Aide

The home care aide is a professional that will come out to the home to assist the family caregiver with taking good care of the senior veteran. These home care aides can cook food, wash the dishes, do the laundry, and even go out to grab some necessities for the aging individual if anything is needed. These aides tend to make as much as $15 an hour.

Home Health Aide

Although similar to the home care aides, home health aides can often provide some medical care services to their clients. They may be responsible for changing soiled dressings and providing the client with the medication that he or she needs to take at a certain time each day. These aides have often received some training before they begin providing basic care, and they will typically earn around $20 an hour.

Choosing the Right Caregiver

You will need to take many things into consideration if you are going to hire a caregiver to provide services to your aging loved one at home. It will depend on the specific tasks your loved one regularly needs help with, such as doing laundry, preparing meals, and getting from one appointment to the next. You should have a full description of the tasks you need to have completed for your loved one before you start your search for the right caregiver. Make sure you are interviewing different people and getting references from them because you do want to make sure you are hiring a genuinely good person to do the job for you.

Upon finding a caregiver that seems like a good fit for your loved one, you should create a contract that includes details on the responsibilities he or she will have, the compensation you can offer, and the benefits that will be provided. If you find a caregiver on your own, you can come up with a custom contract that includes all the things you feel your loved one needs help with the most.

However, you can also look for a caregiver while working with an agency. If you are getting help from a home care agency, you should find out about the number of hours he or she can work and the type of coverage you would have if the original caregiver were to call out sick.

Paying for Services

Most people pay for home care services out of their own pockets. There are times when insurance policies will cover the cost of the service. Medicaid is one of several ways to pay for the services that are provided by a caregiver. If a senior veteran is a member of the Veteran’s Association health care system, the individual can likely receive home care with ease. There is also a benefit known as Aid & Attendance. It is offered to veterans as well as their spouses. The purpose of this benefit is to ensure that these individuals can afford the cost of home care if it is needed.

If you’d like to find out more about how Aid & Attendance can pay for home care, call us today.