It’s difficult to predict when exactly your senior loved ones will need help caring for themselves. In some cases, caregiving will slowly become the norm as your loved one ages, or it will be a sudden change resulting from an accident, a new diagnosis or a hospitalization. No matter what the situation is, it is important to remember that the nature of providing care for an elderly relative can change suddenly. For this reason, caregiving should be approached in an organized fashion so that should anything change, you are prepared with a list of available resources ready to meet the new and emerging needs of the person you love.
What Is a Senior Care Plan?
Generally, a senior care plan will be an organizational tool, an informal or verbal agreement with a loved one, or a formal contract used to coordinate payment for care services. Depending on the family, plans can vary from daily to-do lists to detailed weekly accounts of costs and the types of care provided.
Who Should a Care Plan Be Shared With?
Care planning is a conversation that should happen between your senior loved one and any other family members they have given consent to being involved. Many individuals chose to consult with their health care practitioner about the impact their condition is having on their life, and how they can be supported to best meet their health and wellbeing needs.
Where To Get Started
The following steps will help you plan for senior care:
Step 1: Assess your loved one’s current situation
The first step in providing the best support system for your loved one is to gather information about any problems they are currently facing. This could involve looking at the safety of their home environment, how well they are coping with activities of daily living, their health status, medical and legal documents and their financial situation.
Although this may seem intrusive, it’s important to have these conversations in order to properly plan for future care options. The process will also allow you to identify the areas in which your loved one is still self-sufficient and able to retain their independence.
Step 2: Identify the care they need
Based on the assessments you made in step 1, make a list of all of your areas of concern, placing the highest priorities at the top. You may want to work together to record these as well-being goals. For example, “Mom wants to age in place safely.”
If aging in place is something your relative is aiming towards, you’ll need to think about who in your family will be able to provide them with the care they need. Alternatively, you may want to enlist the help of a home care agency, in which case it’s worth having a good idea of what services home health care provide and how they can best support your loved one to live an enriched life at home, independently for as long as possible.
Step 3: Speak to a home care provider
At Interim HealthCare of the Twin Cities, our highly skilled team of health care professionals have the right resources to ensure your loved one is delivered the highest quality care. Whether they’re recovering from surgery, dealing with a debilitating disease or disability, require end-of-life care, or need assistance because age or chronic illnesses are affecting their mobility and physical abilities, we can provide your family with the ultimate care plan.
Together with your loved one’s primary care team, we will build a personalized plan to help improve their recovery and long-term progress, providing the support they need to live safely at home. In order to provide the best possible continuum array of care services, we put ourselves in the shoes of each of our seniors and their families, creating a whole-person care plan which includes physical, social, emotional and cognitive care. We call it our HomeLife Enrichment® standard of care and it’s what makes Interim HealthCare of the Twin Cities so unique!
We can provide the right care at the right time
Of course, you'll always be there for your loved ones, but we can fill in the gaps, give you a break, and ensure that the people you love the most receive the care they need. Contact us today to learn more about what Interim HealthCare of the Twin Cities can do for your family.
