Many elderly people need help staying at home, but they also need help in other areas of their lives. This is why each Stay at Home agency assembles a Total Family Care Team made up of trusted providers of companion care, medical care, facility care, legal planning, financial planning, mortuary planning, home maintenance, and medical equipment.
Home matters
Like it or not, little things become difficult when we get old—things like getting up and down stairs, using the toilet, or taking a shower. Earlier in our lives we wouldn’t have given them a second thought, but now we have to plan our homes carefully to preserve our independence and avoid serious injury.
At Stay at Home, we are experts at this type of planning. Your first meeting with us includes a free safety walkthrough, where we identify potential risks and look for ways to make your life less of a struggle. You may be able to get by with things as simple as a potty chair in the bathroom and brighter bulbs in your light fixtures. Or you may decide to make a more substantial change, such as remodeling your bathroom to install a zero-threshold shower that you can push your wheelchair into.
Here are four questions we ask families during those early consultations:
- Is your loved one’s home configured for their lifestyle and care needs?
- Does your loved one have a downsizing and personal asset distribution plan?
- If your loved one has stairs, how will you ensure continued mobility?
- Do you have trusted providers for home maintenance and repair services?
Question number four is the second area where we help you with home matters. We know you don’t want strangers in and around your home, but on the other, you are in no position to take care these matters by yourself. We have relationships with handyman services that we trust. From regular home maintenance such as keeping your gutters clear to one-time issues such as fixing a leaky faucet, you can count on them to keep your home in good shape.
Not only will these approaches—modifying your home as needed and identifying trustworthy professionals to take care of maintenance—help you stay at home as long as possible, they will help you have a better time there.
Information for this post comes from Andy Houck, owner and administrator of Stay at Home of Loudon.