The Golden Years: Exploring Senior Care Options

Health & Medical Blog

Thanks to advances in modern medicine, more and more seniors are enjoying a much longer and more active life. However, even the healthiest seniors will often find that the aging process can make it more difficult to complete basic daily tasks, such as cleaning and bathing. If you are one of these seniors, you should know that there are several different care options that can help you get just the right level of assistance for your particular needs. Below you will learn more about a few of these options so that you can choose the one that is right for you.

In-Home Care

In-home care services are often the perfect solution for seniors who simply require a bit of assistance with hygiene and household tasks, but are in overall good health. This is because these services focus more on daily activities rather than on medical care.

A home care aide will often help seniors with tasks such as cooking, cleaning, bathing, dressing, and remembering to take their medications. These aides can also provide valuable companionship for seniors who suffer from mobility problems and may spend a lot of time home alone.

Unfortunately, most home care aides are not qualified to provide medical care, such as prescribing medications or administering physical therapy. Therefore, these services should not be used by seniors who require care for a serious medical condition. For more information about in-home care for seniors, contact professionals like those at ComForcare - Waukesha WI.

Assisted Living

Assisted living facilities are residential programs that offer seniors access to round the clock services. Typically, each resident will maintain their own private room, however, they may be required to share common living areas with other residents. Unlike nursing homes, residents of assisted living facilities are free to come and go as they please. However, it is common for these facilities to require residents to sign in and out so that they can monitor the well-being of each senior.

Assisted living programs typically offer services that are similar to those provided by home care aides. The difference is, these programs are able to offer services on-demand rather than requiring seniors to choose specific days and times for an aide to come to their home.

Independent Living

Independent living communities aim to combine the best of both in-home care and assisted living. Rather than simply giving each resident a private room, these communities allow each resident to maintain their own private house or apartment. There are rarely any restrictions on visitors and seniors have the ability to come and go as they please. This is because the goal of an independent living community is to provide seniors with the support that they need to remain independent.

In order to promote independence, each senior will be given the opportunity take advantage of only the services that they need. These services may include meals that are delivered to their home, transportation assistance, and in-home care. Seniors will also be encouraged to remain social. This is done by offering many planned social events, such as potluck dinners and dances. Seniors can also choose to socialize with their peers at the community center or clubhouse that is the hub of these communities.

Share

17 May 2015

Allergy Relief: You Have More Options Than You Think

As a child, I used to spend my days roaming through the woods. I climbed trees, smelled the flowers, and laid in the grass looking at the clouds. My love for nature continued through my teen years, but when I turned 23, I began to sneeze whenever I left my home. I could no longer enjoy my outdoor hikes and I started taking antihistamines so I could at least open my windows on warm days. My allergies got worse though and I met with an allergist who completed a variety of skin tests. I started receiving allergy shots and my allergist taught me about natural cleaning processes and sinus rinses. The injections and natural treatments improved my quality of life greatly. Even if you do not want to start allergy injections, you have a variety of options that can lessen your symptoms, and you should learn what these options are.