By Shelondra Peavy
As it relates to the health care of any person who is closest to your heart, you’d naturally want the best possible treatment for them. Whether your loved one needs temporary restorative care or perpetual in-home care, you expect experienced, professional caretakers to uphold the certain standard which you already have etched in your mind.
As for myself, I recently based my requirements solely on what I believe to be the “bare essentials”: compassion, kindness, devotion, trustworthiness, and care.
In line with this, I can say that having a true understanding about the roles and responsibilities of a home health caregiver will assist you in choosing the best agency for your needs.
Generally, a home health caregiver supports patients by providing general living assistance such as housekeeping and laundry services; shopping for food and other household items; preparing and serving meals; running errands, and so on. Furthermore, in more intense cases, a caregiver may also assist patients by providing more ‘personal’ services; including, bathing, dressing, and grooming.
Needless to say; such services cannot be PROPERLY performed by someone who doesn’t possess the aforementioned qualities (listed as bare essentials).
Within the metropolitan area of Houston alone, there are well over 500 home health agencies to choose from, and having such a broad selection pool to choose from could be stressful.
Overall, it’s understood that the general role of a professional home health care provider is to provide a suitable environment for their client. That said, if you have a loved one that needs care, or if your loved one is currently being looked after, but you feel that the caregiver is not performing to your expected standards (or if you’re concerned about the caregiver’s behavior), it’s important for you to exercise your POWER OF CHOICE. In other words, CHOOSE A COMPANY THAT IS ‘truly’ BASED UPON CARE and ESSENTIAL SERVICES.
Since one consumer is usually excited to tell another about any OUTSTANDING experience of theirs, it’s seems fair for me to mention that I felt personally relieved and satisfied by selecting an agency named Prime Time Home Health Services Inc (located in South-West Houston @ 9894 Bissonnet) . Yet, choosing the right person(s) to administer home health care with regards to your individual expectations is a very personal and intimate task. And, in order to ensure that you will receive the highest quality of care, you may use the following as a general guideline to aide you in your decision:
- Verify that the agency is licensed and currently registered in good-standing with the State of Texas.
- Find out the length of time the agency has been in business.
- Understand the agency’s process used to hire caretakers, including any training provided.
- Verify that caretakers are adequately evaluated on a regular basis.
- The agency’s fee structure and scheduled services should be clearly understood and provided in print form.
Beyond this, if you want the best possible CARE for your loved one, it’s imperative that you look for the following “essentials” in the “true nature” of the actual caretaker: compassion, kindness, devotion, trustworthiness, and of course; CARE.
Because; even though it is seldom stated, CARE is essential.
