Why is it important to visit seniors who are being cared for at home?
It's important because just like seniors in a residential facility, they are often isolated from the greater world and need additional facetime. Here are some of the positive aspects of visiting seniors regardless of where they are living.
Welfare Checks
One of the most basic values of a visit is that the person who is visiting can look for any signs of unsafe conditions or even various types of elder abuse.
They may notice when they're at home that something is awry. Some of these involve environmental conditions – you might see that a large branch has fallen across the yard, or that some home system isn't working the way it is supposed to. There are many types of things that seniors may not be able to see themselves or fix themselves until they become dangerous.
Listening
People have an inner desire to be listened to. They want people to know how their life is going, and what they're doing day to day. The visit also accommodates this kind of need.
Encouragement
At the same time, the visitor can encourage people to reach out of their comfort zones or challenge themselves to develop a better quality of life. It's easy, when isolated, to get used to a minimum standard of activity. But that only creates a vicious circle where you become less able to do more things. Seniors who want to remain self-reliant and capable will want to push themselves not too hard, but just hard enough. That encouragement can make all the difference.
Assistive Visits
As professionals we know that visits from friends and family are assistive to the work that we do on a daily basis. Simply put, our staff love it when they get help from people who know a senior and are willing to stop in and check on him or her in the home.
Another set of eyes is always valuable and important!
And we know from experience that the family context and social context for a senior makes all the difference in their care. Having more of a support network translates to better outcomes across the board. This includes better outcomes and longevity, but also better outcomes in eating and sleeping and everything else.
So part of our philosophy and approach is to be joyful about seniors having outside connections to people who can do part of the work to support them because they care.
We fill in the gaps with qualified trained staff who are on a mission to support people aging in place. Ask us about how we care for seniors at Like Family Home Care and how our mission translates into a good environment for our people.
