How a Home Care Provider Can Act as Your Parents’ Advocate

Home Care in Riverhead NY

Advocacy is a major part of senior care. By stepping into the role of being a family caregiver for your elderly parents you are taking on the responsibility of supporting them and standing up for them as they face challenges and progress in their physical, medical, and cognitive needs. In most situations, this need for advocacy and support will only increase over time as your aging loved ones face new and worsened conditions and limitations. Though you will always be your seniors’ greatest source of advocacy and support, a home care provider can also be a valuable source of this type of protection and encouragement within the care relationship.

Being an advocate for an aging adult takes on many different characteristics depending on the specific needs of that senior. If you are distance caregiver or are only able to be in the home with your seniors for short periods at a time, you may not recognize all of the ways that your elderly loved ones need an advocate on their side. This is where relying on their in home health care services provider can give you peace of mind and help you to feel confident your parents are safe, healthy, and secure even when you are not able to be with them.

Some of the ways your senior parents’ in home care provider can play an important role in the advocacy for their health, comfort, and happiness include:

• Attending appointments. Many people recommend that no one go to a doctor’s appointment alone, but this is especially important for seniors. Your aging loved one may not completely understand what a doctor said, may not openly discuss her symptoms, or may forget what was said, putting her health and wellbeing at risk. A home care provider can attend these appointments with your senior and act as an extension of you, sharing notes, asking questions, writing down information, and ensuring that the doctor takes plenty of time to discuss everything with your parents. During these visits she can ensure the doctor treats your parents with the level of respect, dignity, and attention they deserve, and that you get all of the information you need

• Monitoring Internet use. The internet is an amazing resource, but many seniors are not aware of the potential dangers they could face when browsing online or using social media. A home care provider can not only help teach your seniors how to properly use the Internet, but can be there to monitor their activities and help them recognize potentially dangerous interactions. If they notice a problem, they can report it to you so you can take the proper steps to protect your parents and other seniors

• Screening calls and visits. Many scams target elderly adults specifically because of their emotional vulnerability. Phone calls and home visits are frequently used to first gauge the vulnerability and willingness to trust of your seniors, and then elicit information that could be used to defraud them. Your parents’ home care provider can be a valuable source of protection for them, screening their phone calls and being the one to answer the door for unexpected visitors so that your parents are not put in the potentially dangerous position of interacting with a scam artist.

Get in touch with the elder care agency in your area to find out about hiring a home care provider and learn about all of the ways that this care professional can enhance your care plan for your aging loved ones.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional home care services in Riverhead, NY to help with elder care in the home, call the caring staff at Artful Home Care today at 631-685-5001.