When children and families are away and seniors are alone, home health care agencies provide valuable services, such as helping seniors stay safe and assisting them to complete their daily tasks and activities of daily living. I first understood the importance of the services that aides provide when I worked as a Social Service Coordinator at a subsidized senior living facility. Though residents living in this building envisioned being able to live independently, many were not thriving. Emerging health problems, social isolation, and mental health issues, among other factors, greatly limited many of the residents I saw on a daily basis.
After interacting with the staff of a home health care agency I was impressed with their professionalism and dedication. The organization’s staff reached out to the residents through health related seminars and decided who needed help immediately. They were able to start services with doctor’s approval within 48 hours.
I noticed a change in residents who started receiving the help of a home health aide. Residents, who previously had been physically unable, now came down to the main floor with their aides and participated in activities like arts and crafts, supervised walks and Bingo games. The interaction between home health aides and clients is a vital one for seniors. Aides interact with their clients, they listen and truly care and make sure that their clients have what they need.
Seniors share their time with the aides, often confiding in them about serious matters. Seniors often start to see home health aides as an important part of their family. A senior who I worked with told me how important it was to her, to have an aide:
“She is so good to me. She makes sure I have everything I need. She helps me with my work, but we also talk and joke. She is like a daughter to me, and I don’t know what I would do without her. Thank you for helping me to get her.”
This was just one of the heartfelt expressions of gratitude I received. Each thank you described the importance of the home health aide in the client’s life and how grateful the client was to have such a service.
Seniors with health problems are not the only ones who are eligible to receive a home health aide. Anyone who is incapacitated due to an illness or health problem is eligible to receive help in the home. The services are almost always covered by the senior’s primary insurance.
A health issue should never limit someone from living their life fully, and thanks to the availability of home health aides and caregivers, no one has to.
- From lifestylesover50.com
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