When you notice that your elderly parent is having trouble taking care of him or herself but you're not quite ready to suggest moving to a care facility, a logical intermediate step is to hire a home health aide to visit your parent and provide the necessary care. Research a few organizations in your community and schedule an appointment. This visit serves as an opportunity to hear about the business, meet the aide who will be tending to your parent and also raise any questions or concerns that you have. Discussing these three subjects will help you to know if you've found the right health agency. 

Training Related To Specific Care Needs

While all home health aides have general training, it's important to talk about specialized training if it's applicable to your family member. For example, if your parent is in the early stages of dementia, you should ideally hire a health aide who has advanced training in dealing with this sort of patient. In addition to confirming this training and how recent it is, you can also ask the health aide to share some examples of a challenge he or she experienced in dealing with a former client with dementia and how he or she overcame that challenge.   

Dealing With Emergencies

Although you hope that your parent won't have any medical emergencies, the reality is that he or she could fall, become ill or have another medical issue while in the care of the home health aide. Talk to this person about the strategies for dealing with an emergency. Doing so will reveal what kind of care the aide can provide – basic first-aid, for example. You should also hear how the home health aide will contact you right away to inform you about your parent's condition. Ask for some examples of past emergencies to get a feel for how the aide works under pressure. 

Network Of Other Professionals

One of the benefits of hiring an aide (such as Queen City Home Care) from a large health agency is that the organization will often work alongside other health practitioners. Talk to the aide about what other practitioners are available and how they might be able to help your parent. For example, if the aide is seeing that your parent is suffering from decreased mobility after a fall, the aide might be able to set up a visit with a chiropractor or massage therapist who can help the healing process. Ask to hear about past cases in which the aide has connected a patient with a health practitioner with positive results.

Share