Selecting a Caregiver

Having the right caregiver for your family can make all the difference in the world when it comes to home care for a senior family member. With increasing age, the dependence on the young family members by the aging family members also increases to meet certain physical and psychological requirements. Unfortunately, not every family can extend the desired support to the elderly due to certain other commitments in life. Therefore, the outside support is desirable in most of the cases where family members seek the expert care provided by caretakers or old age homes. Home health service provided by professional caretakers is a wonderful solution for the elderly in the home.

As a care taker provides desired support and non medical senior care to the elderly in their own homes, it is often preferable over the old age homes. A caretaker of a company is an expert in his field who provides assistance to elderly in the conformity of their homes. But, you should never select a caretaker in a hurry. There are certain points that you should remember while choosing a caretaker for an elderly in the home, such as:

• An ideal caretaker should be able to provide expert care and warmth to people with Alzheimer’s.
• They should be able to help the elderly in their regular day to day activities like helping them dress, providing bathing support, caring for personal hygiene, preparation of food , taking them out, along with other tiny and small tasks to give them a helping hand and care.
• A care taker needs to be skilled in the areas of need of the client, and has to manage various activities in the house.
• A caretaker is required to communicate or interact well with the elderly and understand their specific requirements and respond accordingly.
• A caretaker needs to be courteous with pleasant personality traits.

A great way to find a caregiver is through an agency like a Personal Assistance Service. Senior Service Match has a free senior service selector that can help you find a great agency. Look here to see what others are saying about this tool.

As per the US Labor Departments survey, a home caretaker’s job is placed at the 7th position as the most desired jobs. The attrition is quite high in this category due to prominent reasons including low pays and stress factor. A regular care taker charges some where between 15 -20 dollars per hour.

While selecting a caretaker, you must ensure that they are fully devoted in their jobs. An ideal caretaker must possess courage to handle a new situation and should be able to manage stress. A care taker, who is able to handle certain medical equipment is an additional benefit. So it is always better to enter into a contract listing the expectations and other requirements clearly.