August 2024 - Golden Heart Walnut Creek

Keeping seniors’ homes both clean and safe is one of the biggest ways to help them age in place well. Family caregivers may need a little help staying on top of all of the various tasks that go into meeting that goal, however. Home care services can do a lot to ensure that seniors live in a clean, safe, and comfortable home.

Regular Cleaning and Disinfecting

As seniors age, it gets tougher to do even the most basic cleaning, much less sanitizing and disinfecting the house. Elder care providers can take care of a lot of these basic tasks, like dusting, vacuuming, mopping floors, and keeping surfaces clean and disinfected. This can have a direct impact on reducing issues like allergies and keeps germs in check.

Decluttering for Fall Prevention

Falls are one of the biggest health risks for seniors. Removing clutter goes a long way toward helping seniors to avoid a fall, but this is a big job. Home care providers can clear pathways, help seniors rearrange furniture, and removing unnecessary items. Afterward, senior care providers help aging adults keep clutter to a minimum.

Maintaining Clean Bathrooms

Bathrooms in particular have a lot of hazards in them, and they also need to be as clean as possible. Some of the ways to make the bathroom safer include installing grab bars, putting shower chairs in the tub, and making the toilet more accessible. Once the bathroom is safer, it’s crucial to keep it clean as well, and home care can help with that.

Keeping Up with Laundry

Laundry takes up a lot more time and energy than many people realize until it starts to get difficult. When seniors aren’t keeping up with laundry on their own, that can mean they’re unable to change into clean clothing. This leads to skin issues that can worsen and become bigger problems. It’s also important for seniors to have access to clean bedding and other linens, both for hygienic reasons and for comfort.

Performing Regular Safety Inspections

Home maintenance isn’t just about keeping a home looking good. It’s also about keeping the home safe to inhabit. For seniors, these tasks become more challenging and they might not even notice when a situation is becoming riskier for them. Home care providers notice potential safety hazards and ensure that family caregivers are aware of what’s going on.

Managing Hazardous Chemicals and Supplies

Medications, cleaning supplies, and other hazardous substances are a huge potential problem for aging adults. Some of these chemicals and supplies might even need to be locked away in order to keep seniors safe. Home care providers can help with this task, keeping seniors safer in their homes.

Paying Attention to Kitchen Cleanliness

When the kitchen is dirty or food is stored improperly, seniors are at a greater risk of accidents and illness. Home care providers help to keep the kitchen organized and clean. Home care assistance also helps seniors to eat healthy meals regularly, ensuring the food is stored properly and cooked to proper temperatures.

Senior safety is the key to successfully aging in place. Home care helps aging adults to have the support they need with the tasks that might be getting too difficult for them to handle alone, like cleaning and recognizing safety issues.

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Danville, CA, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Walnut Creek. (925) 203-3039.

Seniors face a lot of different health issues, including depression. While it might seem that aging adults are more prone to depression, that’s not really true. They can very easily experience depression, however, especially if they spend too much time alone. There are other factors that can contribute, so it helps to understand what they are and what might help. One solution that works well is companion care at home.

Physical Health Problems

Physical issues, like health problems, are a common reason for seniors to become depressed. It’s understandable how that could cause distress for someone, especially when illness affects mobility and causes pain. Constantly struggling with health problems is not enjoyable and seniors may self-isolate. When companion caregivers stop by and spend time with them, that can help immensely.

Grief and Loss

Often seniors have experienced a lot of loss and grief throughout their lives. This can leave them feeling alone. Experiencing multiple losses makes it difficult for seniors to bounce back and cope with life’s demands. Spending time with other people can often help to alleviate some of those feelings.

Social Isolation

Seniors can become isolated for a lot of different reasons. They may gradually experience worsening mobility which keeps them home alone more or they may find that friends and family members move away or are increasingly busy with their own issues. For whatever reasons seniors are more isolated, what matters most is that they find a way to spend time with others. Companion care at home can do that for them.

Cognitive Changes

Seniors who are experiencing cognitive changes may need more hands-on help from home care providers. But they can also feel more isolated and experience depression because of the changes they’re experiencing in their lives. Routines that include time with companion caregivers can help seniors feel connected to the world around them again.

Medications

Sometimes the medications that seniors take to solve some of their health problems have side effects that aren’t very fun, like depression. If this is the case, seniors may want to talk to their doctors about what options might work better for them, if possible. Sometimes that isn’t possible, so it’s important for seniors to look for other ways to reduce depression, like spending time with other people and on self-care.

Changes in Living Situations

When seniors have to face changes in their living situations, especially ones they weren’t prepared to experience, that can lead to depression. Becoming more comfortable at home and having companion caregivers available to spend time with them can help quite a bit. Stability and a sense of security are easier to experience when seniors have something to look forward to.

If seniors are experiencing depression, it’s important for family caregivers to take the time to figure out what might be contributing to the depression. The solution might not always be as easy as bringing in companion care at home, but having someone to spend time with regularly is something that can be a positive solution regardless.

If you or an aging loved one is considering companion care at home in Clayton, CA, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Walnut Creek. (925) 203-3039.

Month: August 2024

Cleaning for Senior Safety: Seven Ways Home Care Helps