Have you ever directly supported an aging loved one? In other words, have you been a family caregiver for an elderly family member, friend, or even a neighbor? Even if it was only for a couple of weeks, do you have any experience with this type of work?
Most people don’t. And that includes adult children who suddenly take on this incredibly important role for an aging parent, grandparent, or other loved one.
Unfortunately, too many people have the wrong idea about professional senior home care. Or they have no idea what it offers or that it is even available, especially in their specific situation. In truth, senior home care agencies operate across the country in most communities.
Plus, professional senior home care offers more well-rounded, experienced assistance for aging men and women when they have the need.
What do many families tend to do when an aging loved one needs help?
First, they look to the individual who lives closest to that senior. This might be their spouse, like a stepparent or the other parent, or an adult child who lives close by. That adult child who lives in the neighborhood or at least relatively close enough that they can stop by a few days a week was to be there for this individual.
After all the work, the tears, the love, and the support that senior might have shown their children while they were growing up and heading into their own adult lives, most adult children want to repay that generosity. If they live too far away, though, there is only so much they can do, but for the ones that live close by, they likely become family caregivers, at least to some degree.
And they assume it’s going to be easy.
At first, most adult-child family caregivers take on the assumption that this is going to be an easy job. “I’ll just stop by after work a couple of times a week, check in on them, and then I’ll be home,” tends to be the rationale, the thinking.
That may very well be the reality, too, at least for a while. Then, what tends to happen is the senior either faces increasing health challenges, a decline in their physical abilities, or becomes too accustomed to getting help with various tasks they would prefer not to have to do for themselves any longer. This might include grocery shopping, picking up the mail, vacuuming or cleaning, cooking, and so forth.
In time, that senior may be calling on their adult child more and more frequently. Suddenly, that “easy” job — as the adult child once presumed it would be — is no longer easy. It has become more complicated and time-consuming.
Reality sets in.
When the reality sets in, the stress increases, and even the work as a family caregiver begins taking a physical and health-related toll on that individual, that’s when they start to think about other options. Or they begin looking to other family or friends for help.
Yet, the best help is through a senior home care agency that is probably operating right in the area.
What can a senior home care agency offer that a family can’t?
It’s not necessarily something that an experienced, professional home care agency can offer that a family can’t, but rather a supplement and some unique experience. Most family caregivers have never done this type of work before, so they have no idea what they’re getting into. They miss some amazing opportunities to help promote a higher quality of life for that aging senior.
Experienced senior home care can provide assistance, companionship, and sometimes (most importantly) a buffer between the elderly person and his or her family so they can focus on the relationship rather than flipping the roles of parent and child in these later years of life.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Senior Home Care in Herndon, VA, please contact the caring staff at Access Home Care Inc today! Call (703) 765-9350
Access Home Care provider in Arlington, Alexandria, Leesburg, Reston, Herndon, Manassas, Ashburn, Falls Church, McLean, Lorton, Springfield, Woodbridge, Fairfax, Virginia and the surrounding communities.
“My desire to enter into nursing started when one of my older sisters died of kidney disease due to lack of care. At age 15, I decided to enter into nursing so that I could provide quality care to patients.Upon arrival in United States at 21 years of age, I enrolled in T.C Willliams School of Practical Nursing while working as a nursing assistant at a nursing home. I also worked as a part-time home health aide to take of the elderly. After completion of my practical nurse education, I worked in geriatric psychiatry unit at Dominion Hospital and Arlington Correctional facility mental health unit.
I completed Marymount University in 2001 and entered into Home Care as a field case manager.
I held that position for 2 years and as an Administrator, and for another 2 years until Access Home Care was found in 2004."
Today, Access Home Care has over 300 employees and 286 clients.
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