According to a study done by AARP, 87% of adults age 65+ want to stay in their current home and community as they age. Among people aged 50 to 64, 71% want to age in place. And by 2030, the average life expectancy is projected to be over 81 years old! It’s estimated that by 2026, the demand for caregivers will far outpace the predicted supply – by around 3.2 million. Because of these stats, your home care agency needs to have a system in place to support caregivers in giving the best in-home care to the elderly population.
Be Organized.
Being organized is essential to ensure you have the right information needed to take care of the current patient as well as helping them maintain order throughout their home. While caregivers are not house cleaners, taking steps to help organize and tidy up a space can be helpful to a client. From organizing their mail to ensure the client doesn’t miss anything important to moving shoes out of the way to prevent tripping, caregivers play a critical role in keeping a home orderly.
Be Proactive.
We focus a lot on social determinants of health with home care agencies and its importance to ensure the health and safety of those in our care – being proactive comes into play if or when a caregiver notices micro-level micro-social determinants of health that can impact a patient’s ability to thrive in their current setting, complete normal daily living activities, and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations. Empower your caregivers through training and support to take actions toward raising awareness about anything concerning they notice when caring for a patient.
Be Caring and Understanding.
Sometimes although an elderly patient’s wishes are granted to age in place in their own home, they still might not be thrilled about the idea of someone else coming in to help them take care of daily living tasks. Being empathetic to how the client feels and working with them to see the benefit in a caregiver’s assistance is key to building a trusting relationship.
Be Friendly
Building off the previous empathy point, your caregivers should always be friendly. There is nothing worse than a client already being hesitant to have a caretaker in their home and the caregiver visibly shows they don’t want to be there. When they put on a friendly face and show their willingness to help, the elderly patient will be more at ease to accept care.
Conclusion
Aging in place doesn’t have to be a daunting idea where all the caregiver burden is placed on family members. In 2020, there were approximately 41.8 million unpaid caregivers to adults over 50 in the US. As home care agencies, it’s your job to empower your caregivers as much as possible to ensure quality of life for elderly patients is preserved.
About CareConnect
CareConnect is a disruptive technology company that enables home care providers to reduce the cost of managing, scheduling, and retaining qualified caregivers. CareConnect’s suite of capabilities includes advanced workload optimization, eLearning, and secure communications for caregivers. At a time when agency owners need help maximizing caregiver schedules to fill shifts faster, CareConnect is rapidly transforming the way home care providers onboard caregivers to get them to work quickly, allowing them to build lasting, trusting relationships with their clients and ultimately, better outcomes. For more information click here.