Often, patients, eager to come home from the hospital, don’t realize they may need help with the simplest of daily tasks. Day-to-day activities, like bathing, dressing, eating, standing, walking and even toileting, things we take for granted, can become impossible on our own after illness, injury or just from the aging process. Surgeries or a hospital stay can result in mobility and driving issues. When your family member arrives home and cannot do some of the simplest but most important tasks their need for help can become, not just an inconvenience, but a matter of life and death.
Sometimes accepting that help is hard. If it is the first time in your life that you have needed to ask for help, that makes it even harder. Then there is the issue of adapting to having a newcomer in the house, even if that person is a helper. Resistance to accepting assistance from others can be a barrier to recovery from illness, injury and even the ability to stay in your own home.
These issues are why Care Advantage considers a positive relationship between caregiver and client to be of critical importance. Good relationships based on support, dignity and respect just make it so much easier to accept help.
Part of what can help that bond develop is attention to the specific needs of each patient. Every person’s situation is unique. There is no cookie cutter, no generalizations in personal care. Learning what the specific differences and preferences of each client is our goal. So, Care Advantage teaches their employees to tailor a plan based on what our customers tell us they really want in the way of service. Your father may not want someone bathing him but may desperately need help in toileting and may not want to share that. Another client may insist on washing her own few dishes but cannot cope with an oven or frypan.
Another relationship basic is communication. To keep things running smoothly, Care Advantage prioritizes client communication and will set up a system based on your preferences.
Our caregivers blend with their families building a long-term basis of trust and partnership that can last for years. The full range of services they can provide is extensive. It might include: help with bathing, shampooing, skin care, toileting, walking, medication reminders, light housekeeping, driving to appointments, help with grocery shopping, or just plain companionship. Pretty much everything that family members provide can be a part of a personal services plan. In addition, Care Advantage can also help you with skilled nursing, occupational and physical therapy as the need arises.
Our caregivers often have relationships with clients and client families that last through the years. Clients have even been known to take their caregivers on family vacations and gatherings.
Care Advantage as a company, is so confident in their ability to satisfy client needs, that they offer a 24-hour guarantee. If you, as a new client, are not satisfied with service, they will refund your first 24 hours of fees.
Because these critical needs may become apparent only after the individual is back at home or arise because of a sudden change in their condition, Care Advantage promises to provide you with helpers within twenty-four hours of your request.
Let us talk with you and listen to what your greatest concerns are for your family member as well as hearing their needs and really listening. Being sensitive to these differences and working with the patient can help make their lives at home not just possible but wonderful.
