What Is the Meaning of Live-In Care?


A carer helps an elderly woman put her jacket on

What is live in care?

You may have already read the ‘What is Live in Care’ page on our main site. There, we try to give a general explanation of what live in care is. But, we wanted to go into more detail about what live in care could really mean for your loved one. Enter, this blog post. Here is a more in depth answer to how we believe live in care can be defined.

Companionship & Maintaining a good Mental Health

One of the tasks of our carers is to put your family’s mind at ease. They are here to ensure the mental wellbeing of your loved one. Stress can be detrimental to your health. To minimise the impact of stress to your loved one, a carer is there to carry out the more stress-inducing tasks. They will be there to ensure the bins are outside on the right days, they are there in case your loved one forgets their appointment with the doctor. For a carer the priority will always be that their clients are relaxed, feel safe, and are content. Meaning the bins will always be out on the right days and your family member will be at the doctors surgery, bang on schedule.

As well as creating a stress-free environment, our carers are also there to provide companionship and prevent your elder from feeling lonely. They will quite happily sit down and have a natter about the latest goings on in the soap dramas or join your loved one in a five minute lament over the never-ending pot holes on our roads! One of the duties of our carers is to maintain the social wellbeing of client. If their client does not live alone, they will also strive to establish a strong relationship with the other inhabitant(s) of the house. Your parent needs to be happy and comfortable to have the carer in their home.

There to provide a helping hand

Care staff are also there to tend to the physical needs of their clients. When it comes to the body, our carers always endeavour to maintain the dignity and respect of your loved one. A carer will not overstep any established boundaries. They never want to invade the personal space of your relative. A benefit of live in care is that your loved one gets to keep their independence; care staff want to preserve that just as much as your family does! However, carers will always have their clients back and want to make sure they never over-exert themselves doing the basic tasks. Whether they need an extra hand to tie their shoelaces or cannot quite reach that new bag of sugar on the top shelf, our care staff will help maintain tip top physical health. And if your relative needs a little assistance going for the midnight loo break, there is nothing wrong with letting their carer know.

Looking after the Household Chores

As well as attending to the physical and mental needs of your relative, live in care also focuses on looking after their household. To further reduce the work and stress for your elder, our carers are more than willing to do the housework. Because as we see it, a tidy house allows a tidy mind. A tidy mind allows a happy client, and if the client is happy, our carers are happy. Nothing will change, the role of the carer is, quite simply, to look after the house to the satisfaction of their client. They will do the cleaning, the cooking, and even do a quick run with the hoover before guests arrive. And whilst they do this, your relative can do as they please, they can enjoy a nice cuppa, sink into their favourite chair with a newspaper or magazine to hand, and relax. The presence of a carer means the housework no longer needs to be a factor in your loved one’s daily routine. However, it should be stressed that this does not mean they are no longer in charge – at the end of the day, it is still their house.

Make the most of their time

Finally, as a carer it is their duty to look after the time of their clients, and ensure it is spent doing what they want to do, opposed to what they feel obliged to do. When you have a never-ending list of menial and consistent tasks it can be easy to become overwhelmed and, consequently, neglect your wellbeing in the process. By having live in care, both yourself and your loved one ensure that neglect ends. It goes without saying, life is precious, so why worry about needing to wash the towels? Especially when that can become the responsibility of a carer! With live in care, the aim is to allow clients, and by extension their families, to live out their lives feeling a sense of peace and security knowing a carer is there, ready to help and fulfil the needs of your loved one.

Keep their Independence

For us, all those aspects of care come together and, ultimately, live in care can be defined as a lifeline. It is a form of assistant care that can be nicely described as allowing a client to retain their freedom and independence. Because let’s face it, who would ever willingly allow those to be restricted or taken away? Live in care means a client need never conform to a new daily routine in a strange new place. Instead, the flexibility of live in care means it is the job of the carer to adapt to the routine already in place. By living with your loved one they become completely dedicated to their needs, their wellbeing and their happiness.

 

If you have any questions and wish to get in touch with us, then you can either call us on:

01494 917344

or you can email us at:

info@ashridgehomecare.co.uk