Personal care for the elderly

Personal Care

For seniors who want to live independently at home, but find that daily activities and tasks present difficulty as they age, our experienced caregivers can assist with personal care such as bathing, mobility assistance, grooming and more.

What is Personal Care?

Personal care is a broad term that supports basic personal hygiene and activities of daily living, including dressing, grooming, and toileting. Comfort Keepers’ trained caregivers assist with personal care needs ranging from stand-by assistance to full care depending on each client’s individual needs.

This can include basic tasks, such as bathing, mobility assistance, incontinence and toileting care, preparing and serving meals, to more hands-on personal care including position changes for those clients that are bedbound and specialized care for those with memory issues or cognitive impairments, fall risk assessment and prevention, change in condition monitoring.

Personal home care services can also include assistance with outings, social events, shopping trips, and other activities of interest to maintain engagement both physically and emotionally.

Comfort Keepers can develop a custom care plan for your loved one that includes physical safety and wellbeing, emotional health, and socialization. Our goal is to help our clients have the best quality of life while maintaining their independence at home.

Plans can include:

Bathing and Hygiene

Comfort Keepers’ goal is to assist our clients with their personal care routines so they can look and feel their best. Studies show undeniable benefits for seniors’ self-esteem and emotional fitness to have regular hygiene and grooming. We are here to help clients who fear falling while bathing or have limitations that make grooming tasks difficult.

These tasks may include:

• Showering and bathing
• Getting dressed, including shoes and accessories (belt, watch, jewelry, etc.)
• Brushing teeth or dentures
• Styling and brushing hair
• Makeup application
• Shaving with an electric razor

With something like bathing, consistency is important — being able to bathe daily, or near-daily, is essential to staying healthy. Health issues can be caused by a failure to wash frequently enough, yet senior bathing is a task that gets harder as the years pass.

Fall Prevention and Mobility Assistance

Avoid unnecessary risks in the bathroom and around the house. Bathroom features are not always designed with seniors in mind and can be a fall risk. This is especially true for surfaces that may be wet and slippery after a bath or shower. Reducing falls in the home is one of the top safety concerns that seniors and their families face.

Our caregivers greatly reduce this risk by providing mobile assistance inside the home and helping to keep the home safe from fall risks. There are many benefits to having extra hands for mobility assistance around the house, including:

• Less risk with trained help and a steady arm
• Less temptation to skip out on housekeeping tasks or personal hygiene, like getting to the bathroom to bathe or getting around the kitchen for dinner
• Companionship to help with chores not only makes tasks easier to complete, but also brings comfort just in having someone to talk to and socialize.

Transferring and Positioning

As we age, moving around the house can get more difficult. One of our top priorities is helping our clients move around their homes comfortably. This may include getting in and out of bed, chairs, and wheelchairs.

Proper transferring and positioning can contribute to reducing bedsore risks. This also helps reduce muscle atrophy, while encouraging proper breathing and digestion. It can also lower the risk of falls and injuries.

Toileting and Incontinence Care

We understand the sensitive nature of toileting and incontinence care for our clients. Our caregivers offer compassionate, dignified help with these personal aspects of daily living.

At Comfort Keepers, we can provide a senior incontinence care plan and help with daily hygiene. By building a trusted relationship, our caregivers can help your loved ones in the comfort of home. A big part of dealing with incontinence care is simply remaining clean and comfortable.

Incontinence can be a difficult issue for a senior to discuss. If the senior or a loved one is not willing to ask for help, hygiene issues can arise and may compound over time.

Senior Nutrition & Meal Prep

Our caregivers can support physician-prescribed nutrition and diet plans. We also provide assistance with grocery shopping and meal preparation that meets nutritional needs or accommodates special dietary restrictions.

It is not uncommon for seniors to be on a restricted diet. A doctor or a nutritionist may include special dietary needs in a wellness plan, which can include limits on what can be consumed, or in what quantities. Common situations include:

• Different medications can have food restrictions or sensitivities associated with them, and physician-created nutrition plans typically account for these sensitivities. Timing of medication doses can be a critical part of a care plan. Timing can be a concern, especially if a senior is dealing with physical limitations or memory loss.
• Proper nutrition can be an issue for seniors living alone. Moving around the kitchen and lifting pots and pans may be harder than it once was, and as a result, healthier home-cooked meals are challenging. Instead, those meals may be substituted with fast food, packaged food, or simply less calorie consumption. It's especially important for the elderly to consume enough calories and the right nutrients to avoid obesity, excessive weight loss, and dehydration.
• Dehydration can lead to a number of serious problems if left unchecked. It continues to be one of the most frequent causes of hospitalization among older adults. Eight 8-ounce glasses is generally considered the standard when it comes to proper daily intake, but more may be needed depending on prescribed medications or health conditions.

Whether someone is seeking help following a special diet or looking for companionship in the kitchen, our caregivers can provide the assistance necessary for wholesome at-home meals. Our goal is to make mealtime both healthy and enjoyable.

Our uplifting personal care services can also include:

• Care for those with memory issues or cognitive impairments
• Medication reminders and management
• Assisting with errands or transportation to appointments
• Support for physician prescribed exercise programs
• Change in condition monitoring
• Fall risk assessment and assistance with fall prevention

We strive to provide the highest quality of care. If you or a loved one could benefit from companionship, personal care or any of our specialized services, we would love to talk to you today.