Providing elderly care is an important job you should only give to someone you can trust. Professional caregivers don’t just care for your loved ones; they are part of the family. Excellent elderly caregivers care for, nurture and bond with your loved ones and the rest of the family.
The first step in hiring in-home care is to research reputable home care companies in your area. While many can give elderly care, there is a distinction between carrying out the job because it pays your bills and doing it because you love the feeling that you’re able to enrich people’s lives.
Most people who become quality caregivers are known for their patience, kindness, perseverance, sensitivity and nurturing tendencies. Your parents and elderly loved ones deserve the best care that enhances their lives and to make the right choice, there are certain features you should look for.
Essential qualities to look for in a caregiver
- Passion
The home caregiver shouldn’t be motivated by compensation alone but a genuine care for the person they are looking after. Caregiving is a hard task and only passionate caregivers will be enthusiastic, positive and happy when working with your loved ones as they seek to improve lives.
Caregivers love their job and their patients and it shows after they’ve spent some time with the patient. They constantly look for ways to make the patient’s life more comfortable and qualitative.
- Empathy
To give the patient quality care, a caregiver must have an understanding of the difficulties the patient is experiencing. When you can empathize with the discomfort of others, it’s easier to put yourself in their shoes and help them feel better. Compassionate homecare providers always imagine how they would want to be taken care of if the roles were switched.
- Expertise
Expertise is an essential quality of a top-rated caregiver. Every state has its own guidelines, so ensure the caregiver has undergone the required training. Some caregivers go the extra mile to acquire additional certifications that will help them provide better care for the elderly or kids who require home care.
- Creativity
An important role of the caregiver that is often taken for granted is the ability to engage the mind of the patient to keep the brain sharp. Brain function deteriorates in some people as they grow older and a creative caregiver can design activities, exercises, games and books that encourage learning in older people.
- Patience
You’re hiring the services of a caregiver because your loved ones can’t be fully-independent on their own. Sometimes it’s a child who can’t express his emotions or a physically challenged individual who feels trapped, no matter the situation or who needs caring, a good caregiver always has patience as a vital quality to rely on.
Being patient means understanding when plans change, days when the patient is in an offensive mood or lashing out for no reason. They always remain calm. A good home caregiver slows down the pace when the patient is experiencing more pain than usual. An inflexible home caregiver will have difficulty adjusting to such situations.
- Experience
A quality caregiver has the relevant experience required to deal with different situations when caring for a patient. Homecare agencies like partnersforhome always ask for the record of caregiving experiences and references before hiring a caregiver.
It ensures that when patients have age-related problems like dementia or diabetes, the caregiver has a wealth of knowledge on how to help the patient. If the patient wants meal prep, the caregiver also knows how to prepare healthy food suitable for the dietary conditions of the patient.
- Physical fitness
Caregiving is a physically demanding job that requires core body strength to perform manual activities like supporting the weight of a patient when they sit, stand, walk, running chores, helping them shower, and taking them for walks, among other activities. It’s only a caregiver in peak physical conditions that will possess the required stamina and strength for the job.
- Communication
A good caregiver should have positive attitude and excellent verbal communication. They will be spending most of the day with your loved one, so you need to make sure they can communicate well with you and your loved one.
The caregiver should be able to keep your loved one comfortable and maintain open channels of communication about changes in their care plan. Quick-thinking for immediate problems is a huge part of caregiving and excellent communication skills helps to solve problems.
- Positivity
Both elderly and younger patients who are disabled experience bad days, depressive moods and physical hurdles that make them want to
give up. Caregivers must have an infectious positive spirit that helps patients push through their worst days. The best care providers always employ professional caregivers that maintain positive attitude on low days.
- Intuitive
Caregivers deal with different situations or patients who need help with more than physical movement. Caregivers help patients with psychological and emotional fears. Sometimes an elderly patient doesn’t want to go for a walk, or they won’t eat their food or they look at you like you’re the enemy. An intuitive caregiver looks past the attitude to see the root of the problem.
- Persistence
When a patient has a bad day, do you let them wallow in their misery, push them or go slow? How do caregivers know when to push, go easy or back off? Experienced caregivers know to blend persistence and patience to help the patient carry out routine tasks for their benefit. Patients can be stubborn but caregivers are more stubborn and will prod with patience until the senior citizen gets up and move.
- Responsibility
A caregiver is responsible for a patient who relies on them to perform simple functions like eating, bathing, brushing, moving around and sometimes maintaining a schedule for medication. These are important functions that require brainstorming to create solutions sometimes outside what a caregiver is taught in school.
The caregiver you hire should be dependable as elderly people sometimes require emergency care. The good caregiver put the needs of the patient first, maintain confidentiality of the patient and sometimes helps the family understand what the patient needs.
Conclusion
When looking for a caregiver, it’s extremely important to find a caregiver with proven skills and required qualities. Your loved ones should be comfortable with the person and they must inspire trust that makes you confident enough to leave your elderly in their care.
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