Senior Companions

Senior Companions - for Family Caretakers by Senior-Meals.org

What is a Senior Companion?

A senior companion can offer a loved one a compassionate friend who cares about his or her well-being. Senior companions help by creating a manageable plan with seniors and their families to fit in a rounded approach towards care.

Senior companions are different from home caregivers because they are more involved in the overall, large scale management of the senior’s needs.

From offering diet and nutrition plans to overseeing medication monitoring, the companion is capable of many different tasks. However, a companion is different from a caregiver. Unlike a home caregiver, the home companion is not always a nurse. The companion might be more involved in lighter medical responsibilities and work closely with an on-call or hired nurse practitioner.

A companion is not necessarily live in support, either, whereas private caregivers can tailor seniors’ needs to work in the home full time. Furthermore, a senior might have only one companion, preferring to work with a one person companion team while having many different caregivers attending to the medical needs.

One other distinction between a caregiver and a companion is that companions will often visit the elderly in their assisted living assistance facility and nursing home. They can provide safe transportation and accompaniment to outside activities like doctors’ appointments. The caregiver might also provide services to those recovering from injury or illness, not just the elderly.

The difference between a companion for the elderly and a companion for a senior is slight but significant. An active senior citizen could be all right without working closely with a companion or might only need a companion for light, minimal care.

They are more independent and need less direct supervision. In this case, the companion would be more like a close, caring, and responsible friend in charge of maintaining a sense of equilibrium and balance. The companion might only come over to check in a few times a week to make sure everything is going well.

For the older adult who needs more supervision and help, a companion is a good option. The companion for elderly persons will work closely with the family and nurse, nurse practitioner, or doctor to find a comprehensive plan and then carry it out together. Here the companion would be updated with the older adult’s abilities and limitations and know how to help.

An elderly companion could also be directly involved in care for difficult conditions like dementia, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s disease. Companions are an excellent resource because they would know in detail when the time may come when assisted living is the right choice.

A home companion is a companion who lives or partially lives within the senior’s home. Similarly to the home caregiver, the senior home comparison dedicates his or her time to monitoring the senior’s care full time. The companion can expand help to include breakfast, lunch, and dinner and perhaps even bathing. This is a good option for when families are either not present or away on vacation. This kind of care can be short term or long term, depending on the circumstances.

Because the caregiver maintains around the clock care, this service is a solution for the senior who is not ready and does not want to leave home to go to an assisted living facility because it allows for a feeling that one is still in charge of the situation. In this case, the home senior companion is similar to a live-in caregiver in that they both provide a link between medicinal needs, though the companion works with the medical team and the caregiver is part of the medical team.

To find the very best care, get in touch with an elderly companion service. Rates vary with desired hours and agencies. These elderly companion services are the best way to find a professional companion, one who has been certified to give the very best, responsible care. In this case, the companion is carefully screened and interviewed, and background checks and references are contacted. Only the best candidates are brought on, so you can be sure that the companion you pick is not only right for your personalized needs.

Thus going through a service company is necessary to find a companion who works with a balance of professionalism and friendship. Furthermore, the service finds the right companion by listening to the needs of the senior and the senior’s family while matching up the best companion. Basing the decision on traits like experience and medical background, among others, the service makes a decision that fits into the ideal picture and team the family has in mind.

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