Although the terms, “home health” and “home care” get easily mixed up, they’re quite different. Home care services are known to offer non-clinical help like meal preparation and companionship. On the other hand, home health companies like Smiling Heart Home Health Care Fort Lauderdale deals with the provision of professional medical assistance.
Home Health Care
Home health care is medical supervision rendered by licensed professionals like licensed practical nurses, physical therapists, or occupational therapists. The type of services they render is often prescribed by a doctor as a senior health care regimen after injury or hospitalization These individuals often work under home health agencies or hospice agencies. Some of the services they render includes:
- Wound care
- Medication or shots administration
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Monitoring of health status
Who Are Those That Can Benefit From Home Health?
- Seniors going through an overall decline in function.
- Seniors who have just been discharged from the hospital or a nursing facility.
- People whose fragile health can’t allow them to travel to either a long or short distance to see their doctor.
- Elderly people in need of monitoring after a recent change in medication.
Home Care
Unlike home health, home care doesn’t deal with providing medical services to people. It mainly involves providing care and compassion for seniors that require help with carrying out their daily activities. Home care aides have been trained to understand everything about adult care, but their license doesn’t allow them to provide medical services. Their services include:
- Helping adults transport themselves to appointments, mostly medical.
- Helping them cook their meals or order them through trustworthy mediums
- Helping them clean their homes and organize their things
- Helping them bathe and dress
- Reading books to them and chatting with them
Who Are Those That Can Benefit From Home Care?
- People that desire help with cleaning, cooking, and other household activities.
- Active elderly people who still need help with transporting themselves to medical appointments
- Seniors that feel isolated at home
- Seniors in need of assistance to carry out activities of daily living (ADLs), including bathing and using the restroom.
Combining Home Health and Home Care Services
Having found out that both home health and home care services are highly beneficial to their loved ones, most families now combine both. As health professionals render quality medical care to seniors and care aids assist them with day-to-day activities, it helps to ensure that both their physical and emotional needs are met.
Payment
- Private Pay is only needed for home health which hasn’t been ordered by a physician. It is mostly used by individuals who hire home care services for their senior family members.
- Medicaid covers home health and home care services for income-qualified seniors. Although, the coverage amount paid by different states varies.
- A long-term insurance plan can also cover home care, but that’s only if it’s included in your loved one’s insurance plan.
Importance Things To Look Out For In A Caregiver And Home Health Provider
Experience
Professional caregivers and home health providers specialize in different areas. For this reason, it is important to know if their services go along with what your loved ones need before hiring them. You can achieve that by either having a physical conversation with them to know about their past experiences, or interrogating the people they’ve worked with.
Certification
Since the provision of home health and home care services for individuals is a delicate field, it makes sense to find out a caregiver and home health giver’s expertise level before hiring them. You have to ensure that both have undergone the necessary training for their jobs and gotten proper certification for it, as required by the laws of your state.
Patience
Patience is one of the essential qualities to look out for in caregivers and home health providers. This is most especially important when seeking care for someone who has Alzheimer’s or any other type of dementia. If a caregiver or home health provider lacks this quality, they may not be able to provide the kind of services your loved ones need.
Another essential thing to look out for in caregivers and home health providers is empathy and attentiveness. The right caregivers and home health providers have a good mix of professionalism and a caring nature.