Once you’ve decided to use the services of a home care agency and caregiver, there comes a transition period for you and your aging parent. There’s going to be someone new who will be spending time in your parent’s home, getting to know them, and helping them with their day-to-day activities.
To help you make that transition to home care go as smoothly as possible, here are five tips that other families have found helpful.
1. Get Your Home Ready
No matter how often your new caregiver will be assisting your family, you’ll need to prepare your home for someone who is initially going to make it feel like you have a visitor in your midst.
If you’re going to have 24-hour care provided, there will very likely be some changes that need to be made: rearranging rooms and furniture for privacy, giving accessibility to any items in the home the caregiver will need (bedding, towels, washcloths, etc.), providing a parking spot for them, organizing or reorganizing the pantry and fridge, and more.
2. Keep Your Loved One at Ease
Your parent is going to feel some natural nervousness over forging a new relationship with someone coming into their home, someone they’ve never met before. They may need your emotional support and encouragement before the caregiver arrives.
To make the initial conversations between your parent and the caregiver go smoothly, it will help if either you or another family member is present. Mom or Dad may feel a bit apprehensive when they meet the caregiver, and conversation may not flow easily for either of them.
3. Give the Relationship Time
It takes time for any relationship to develop. Even if the initial conversation went well, there might still be days or weeks of awkwardness as your senior adjusts to having a caregiver taking care of things they used to do for themselves.
Not everything will always go according to plan – mail may not be brought in when it usually was, plants may be given too much water, and dishes might not get washed perfectly every time. This may initially aggravate your loved one, but they’ll most likely quickly see that, though it may not be business as usual, everything isn’t falling apart.
If your caregiver is there primarily for companion care, let your loved one and them have their space. They’ll grow more comfortable with each other by spending time together. Games, reading together, watching movies, and sharing meals will create a bond that strengthens over time.
4. Stay Involved
Though you may no longer be the primary caregiver, you’re still very much needed. Mom or Dad will still feel the most at ease with you and want your attention and support. Though you want to give the senior/caregiver relationship time to flourish, you’ll want to be visible and available.
5. Communicate With Your Agency as Needed
We all have personality types that we prefer not to be around. If your parent is an introvert and your assigned caregiver is an extreme extrovert, you may want to let your agency know if the relationship flounders and you’d like to work with a different caregiver. A great agency knows you’re the client, and they’ll do everything possible to make your family as comfortable as possible.
Let Help at Home Help With the Transition to Home Care
Help at Home has been helping families in and around the Chevy Chase, MD area make the transition to home care go smoothly for over 20 years. Our agency is caring and responsive, and our caregivers are skilled and compassionate. Contact us today and let us know how we can help.