Last updated on January 3rd, 2025 at 02:47 pm
Not everyone who needs regular care wants to move into a special facility. Fortunately, there’s often an alternative: home care services.
Home care allows the care recipient to stay in their own home while they receive care. It can cover a wide range of services, from assistance with household chores to skilled medical care. Sometimes it only involves a few hours of care each day or week; in other cases, there may be a live-in caregiver or a team offering 24/7 support.
If your loved one is aging, severely injured, or living with a disability, now is a good time to explore these options.
Types of Home Care Services
There are many different types of services that can fall under the home care umbrella. These care services can be short-term or long-term and occur as often as the care recipient needs them.
Skilled Nursing Care
Skilled nursing care includes medical care from certified nurses or other medical professionals. The goal is to give patients the medical attention they need in their own homes rather than forcing them to go to a hospital.
This type of care is most common in skilled nursing facilities that keep a nurse on staff 24/7. However, some nurses offer care inside patients’ individual homes. Skilled nursing care as a home care service generally makes the most financial sense for patients who don’t need round-the-clock supervision.
Personal Care
Personal care services offer help with daily tasks that are important for hygiene and personal dignity. They often include assistance with bathing, grooming, toileting, or other personal hygiene tasks depending on the care recipient’s needs.
Homemaking
Homemaking care includes light housekeeping, grocery shopping, and meal preparations. The goal is to help the care recipient maintain a clean, organized, and comfortable home environment.
Transportation Service
Transportation service is a huge help to many people who struggle with disabilities or mobility challenges. It can include rides for both social visits and essential tasks, including shuttles to doctor appointments. If your loved one cannot drive safely and doesn’t have other ways of getting around when they’d like to, transportation service could be the key to helping them live their life.
Companion Care
Companionship or companion care focuses on social and emotional needs. It helps the care recipient avoid isolation by nurturing their social connections and ensuring they feel valued and heard.
Respite Care
Respite care is a service that fills in the gaps when family caregivers are temporarily unavailable. It helps the regular caregivers take breaks to recharge or complete other necessary tasks while ensuring the care recipient has continuity of care.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy is designed to help patients who have lost some of their mobility. Your loved one’s doctor may recommend it if they’ve recently been in an accident, become injured, gone through surgery, or experienced a chronic disease. In some cases, a physical therapist can visit the patient’s home.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is designed to help patients who are struggling with daily tasks. It focuses on improving motor skills and day-to-day abilities to help patients regain independence.
Palliative Care
Palliative care aims to provide relief after a severe illness. It prioritizes comfort and dignity during the recovery process. The goal is to improve the patient’s quality of life by managing symptoms and reducing stress.
Memory Care
Memory care or dementia care helps patients who are struggling with memory issues. It keeps patients safe and comfortable while retaining as much of their identity as possible.
At-Home Hospice Care
Hospice care helps patients who have a terminal illness and would not benefit from curative treatments. The goal is to provide comfort and give the patient a sense of peace and meaning during their final days.
Depending on your needs, you may want to combine multiple types of home care. For instance, someone who has lost mobility may need daily personal care services, twice-a-week homemaking services, regular physical therapy, and transportation assistance.
Find a Caregiver in Western Washington
Sunrise Services offers home care and other assistance in Western Washington. We focus on helping real individuals with a holistic and responsive approach based on their needs. Our goal is to provide genuine compassion, support, and comfort for every individual.
Partner with Sunrise to give your loved one the fullest possible life with help from a compassionate caregiver or care team.
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