Being a single parent is hard enough. Being a single parent and undergoing major surgery is worse. There is no one to take care of you, and you cannot take care of the kids for a few weeks after surgery. If your health insurance provides it, or if you can afford it, you may request home health care. Here is how and why home health care can help. 

Why You Need the Help Home Care Nurses Provide

You will need to change dressings and monitor your stitches. You will need help bathing and keeping the surgical site clean. You need help caring for the kids, cooking, cleaning, and keeping the kids fed and cleaned. Your home needs to remain clean as well, to prevent any infections and illnesses while you recover from surgery. Home health nurses can help with all of the above and more. 

How Home Health Nurses Help

Every day after your release from the hospital, nurses will take shifts coming to your home to help with the kids, the housework, and your personal hygiene and care. They will stay with you, fetch you things you need from the grocery store or pharmacy, and drive you to follow-up appointments for your surgery. If the kids need to go to appointments or after-school activities, the visiting nurses can help you with that, too. The nurses will keep coming to help you around the clock until your surgical site has sufficiently healed and you can get up and around on your own. 

If your insurance covers the cost of visiting nurses, there may be a limitation on the number of days, weeks, and hours that you can have the nurses' help. If that is the case, make the most of the time provided to you that is covered by insurance. If you need more help than what insurance can cover, and you do not currently have a partner (i.e., boyfriend/girlfriend) that can help you, you may have to hire a sitter or two to help with the kids overnight or in the evenings. 

The Possibility of Agency Staff as a Filler

Agency nurses may be able to fill in where your other visiting nurses cannot. If you have to pay for extra care out of pocket, talk to nursing agencies to see if they can help. You may only need the extra help a few hours or a few days here and there. 

Contact a local home health care agency to learn more about the help they can offer you. 

Share