Finding the Right Home Health Care Provider
When it comes time to get care for your aging loved one, you’ll undoubtedly get all kinds of advice from concerned family members, healthcare providers and even casual acquaintances. It can become a daunting task attempting to navigate their well-intended ideas along with your loved ones’ wants and the plethora of information available online.
Unfortunately, when this time comes, it becomes a necessary task. Finding the best solution for you and your loved one is certainly a process, but it can be manageable if you have the right process and ask the right questions:
Step 1: Understand the physical, emotional and social needs of your loved one. Finding the right in-home care is not only about the physical or medical needs, but also about the persons’ emotional well being and desired social engagement. Determining what you need help with is key across all three perspectives.
Step 2: Determine how often you’ll need help. If you already have family, friends or even yourself available to cover certain days or dayparts, figure out the remaining days and hours you’ll need coverage by a professional in-home care person.
Step 3: Assess your budget. In-home care is an affordable option for most families, but costs can vary depending on the level of care you need or desire. It’s best to determine how much you can afford on a weekly basis in order to steer your search in the right direction.
Step 4: Talk to your loved one. Getting your elderly family member to understand the need will help the transition considerably and by doing so, you’ll also be able to gauge his/her comfort level in terms of the level of care.
Step 5: Start calling agencies. It is best to approach the search with a compare and contrast approach because each agency may have different levels of care and very different costs.
The BrightStar Care worksheet for selecting in-home care provides you with a comprehensive list of questions to ask and allows you to compare up to three agencies. We’re here to help you navigate this process when you’re ready. At BrightStar Care Naples/Ft. Myers, we strive for exemplary care across the many services we offer.
When it comes time to get care for your aging loved one, you’ll undoubtedly get all kinds of advice from concerned family members, healthcare providers and even casual acquaintances. It can become a daunting task attempting to navigate their well-intended ideas along with your loved ones’ wants and the plethora of information available online.Unfortunately, when this time comes, it becomes a necessary task. Finding the best solution for you and your loved one is certainly a process, but it can be manageable if you have the right process and ask the right questions:
Step 1: Understand the physical, emotional and social needs of your loved one. Finding the right in-home care is not only about the physical or medical needs, but also about the persons’ emotional well being and desired social engagement. Determining what you need help with is key across all three perspectives.
Step 2: Determine how often you’ll need help. If you already have family, friends or even yourself available to cover certain days or dayparts, figure out the remaining days and hours you’ll need coverage by a professional in-home care person.
Step 3: Assess your budget. In-home care is an affordable option for most families, but costs can vary depending on the level of care you need or desire. It’s best to determine how much you can afford on a weekly basis in order to steer your search in the right direction.
Step 4: Talk to your loved one. Getting your elderly family member to understand the need will help the transition considerably and by doing so, you’ll also be able to gauge his/her comfort level in terms of the level of care.
Step 5: Start calling agencies. It is best to approach the search with a compare and contrast approach because each agency may have different levels of care and very different costs.
The BrightStar Care worksheet for selecting in-home care provides you with a comprehensive list of questions to ask and allows you to compare up to three agencies. We’re here to help you navigate this process when you’re ready. At BrightStar Care Naples/Ft. Myers, we strive for exemplary care across the many services we offer.