While our administrative personnel
assist in designing a plan of care, our clients are always in charge.
Our clients and their families tell us what services they need and when
services are needed. At Caring Companions we pride ourselves on having
the flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of our clients.
Companionship
services include friendly interactions with our clients, company during
walks, assistance with hobbies and crafts, playing cards or other
games, assistance with reading or writing (particularly for clients
with macular degeneration), and assistance with social and entertaining
activities. Companionship services are designed primarily for our
clients with dementia when it is no longer safe for them to be left
alone due to safety issues or if they are a flight risk. However,
companionship services are also beneficial for clients that can no
longer drive and would like us to drive and accompany them on an outing.
Personal
Assistance Services are defined as providing hands-on care to a client.
The hands-on care that we provide our clients is generally to assist
them with one or more of the 6 basic ADLs or Activities of Daily
Living. The 6 basic ADLs are eating, bathing, dressing, toileting,
transferring (walking) and continence. The reason that most seniors end
up in a nursing home is due to needing assistance with ADLs. With help
from Caring Companions, our clients receive assistance in their homes.
Respite
care is when a family member uses our services to give themselves some
much needed time off from caring for their loved one. Caring for a
loved one can often entail more hours than a full-time job. Without
regular relief from the stress and strain, the primary caregiver is
endangering their own health and safety. Our caregivers can provide a
way to get the needed time off to prevent getting burned out.
As
part of an overall plan of care, our caregivers remind our clients when
it is time to take their medications. If needed, we provide nurses that
can regular set-up pill boxes and reorder prescriptions.
Our caregivers not only prepare meals for our clients, but they assist
with the grocery shopping and meal planning. We are also able to
prepare extra meals for our clients to heat up and eat later. A number
of our clients have dietary restrictions and we are able to make sure
that they are still eating nutritiously.
Our caregivers assist with laundry by washing, drying and folding clothes. We also will change bed linens.
Our caregivers assist many of our clients with maintaining a clean
house. In the kitchen we clean up after any meal that we have prepared
and served, but we also clean counters, sweep or vacuum the floor, mop
the floor, take the trash out, and clean the refrigerator and other
appliances. In the bathroom, we clean the tub, sinks and toilet. We
also will mop and/or vacuum the floor. In the bedrooms we change the
bed linens. In all rooms of the house we dust furniture, clean/vacuum
the floors and tidy-up the area.
Our caregivers primarily provide transportation to our clients for
doctors’ appointments, but we will provide transportation for whatever
our clients need.
