Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke. They’re more common in women, so it’s not surprising that your mom had one, but it is shocking to your family. You’re anxious about what happens next. Can senior home care services help with her recovery?
What Senior Home Care Providers Can Do
Senior home care aides can do a lot when it comes to helping your mom with ADLs and IADLs. Your mom may not be able to walk without a walker or cane. She may require a wheelchair for now. That means, she needs help with her showers, toileting, meals, and housekeeping chores.
Hygiene
She may not have the same hand or arm strength that she used to. It’s likely that she’ll be unable to hold a spoon or fork. Someone may need to feed her, brush and floss her teeth, and style her hair. She needs help getting dressed, tying shoes, and applying lotion to her skin.
Cleaning and Laundry
Caregivers can also help keep her house clean. They are used to completing tasks such as vacuuming her carpets, sweeping hard floors, and dusting furniture. Her senior home care provider can make her bed, change her sheets, gather dirty clothes and towels, and do the laundry.
Does your mom have houseplants that need watering each week? If your mom can’t do it yet, her caregiver can. Her caregiver can wipe counters, sanitize sinks and faucets, and tidy up, too. If there are errands to run or prescriptions to refill, you mom won’t have to worry about finding someone to get them.
Meals
Her caregiver can help her plan a weekly menu, order groceries for her or go shopping for her, and prepare meals and snacks when your mom is hungry. After a meal is prepared, the caregiver can feed your mom if needed, clear the table, do the dishes, and put everything away.
Other Services You Should Ask the Doctors About
Senior home care aides do a lot but don’t expect them to be able to do anything of a medical nature, such as setting up an IV for medications or helping with a catheter. She might need to work with speech, occupational, and physical therapists who come to her home until she’s able to get in and out of a car.
If those services are needed, it’s a different type of service and worth talking to your mom’s doctor about how to go about arranging that level of care. They’re a great resource for getting started.
Your mom’s stroke can put the family under a lot of stress. Make sure you talk to her medical team about her needs going forward. Once you know what she’s going to need, senior home care services offer a lot of the support on that list.
Hire senior home care aides to cook her meals, clean her home, and help her with showering. You’ll find it easier to balance your job, family responsibilities, and self-care.
