Right at Home in-home services can be divided into four broad categories.
Companion Care: In-home health care and caregiving, a companion, may be a Certificate III in Aged Care graduate, nursing assistant or similarly qualified person who is hired to work with one client (or occasionally two). Companions may be hired to work in a variety of settings, including the client’s own home, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and hospitals, and their duties range from medication reminders to shopping, cooking, transport, light cleaning, simple companionship and socialisation.
Personal Care: The occupation of attending to the physical needs of people who are aged, those living with a disability or otherwise unable to take care of themselves, including tasks such as bathing, management of bodily functions, as well as cooking, light cleaning and socialisation. These are referred to collectively as the Activities of Daily Living.
Skilled (Nursing Care): Skilled nursing is a term that refers to a client's need of care or treatment that can only be done by licensed (Registered or Enrolled) nurses. Examples of skilled nursing needs include complex wound dressings, rehabilitation, IV therapy, tube feedings. Skilled nursing extends to transitional care (people recovering at home from surgery), hospital in the home and palliative care.
Activities of Daily Living
In most cases, clients require assistance with Activities of daily living (ADLs). This is a term used in healthcare to refer to daily self-care activities within an individual's place of residence, in outdoor environments, or both. Health professionals routinely refer to the ability or inability to perform ADLs as a measurement of the functional status of a person, particularly in regard to people living with a disability and the elderly.
At Right at Home we define ADLs and Basic ADLs (BADLs consisting of self-care tasks) as follows:
- Bathing and showering
- Dressing
- Meal preparation, assistance with dietary planning and feeding
- Self-feeding (not including chewing or swallowing)
- Functional mobility (moving from one place to another while performing activities)
- Personal hygiene and grooming (including brushing/combing/styling hair)
- Toilet hygiene
Instrumental ADLs - Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are not necessary for fundamental functioning, but they let an individual live independently in a community:
- Housework
- Taking medications as prescribed
- Shopping for groceries or clothing
- Use of telephone or other form of communication
- Using technology (as applicable)
- Transportation within the community
Skilled Care Services
Skilled Care services include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Catheter Care
- Continence Care/Toileting
- Care management by trained professionals
- Medication Administration and reminders
- Wound Care
- IV therapy
Socialising & Relationships
While physical activity is needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle, social activities play an important part also. Everyone, no matter his or her age, needs some type of social life. Socialisation for the elderly is just as important as it is for the younger generation. When seniors socialise, they enrich their lives. There are many benefits for seniors that come from socialising.
When the elderly are living away from family, they still do need friends and companions. Having someone to talk with, share a meal with, and having outside interests helps seniors have happier and healthier lives. It helps them feel loved, supported, and needed. The connections to people and activities give seniors a purpose and something to look forward to. It keeps them from feeling isolated and alone. Social activities help the elderly stay mentally sharp and ‘connected’.
Activities including games, walking, volunteering, reading, and even talking with others are necessary for everyone including the elderly. As we age, the importance of being socially active is more important than ever. Feeling needed and productive helps seniors lead happier lives. It helps their emotional well-being. This lessens stress and anxiety.
The more socially active the elderly are the less likely they are to become depressed. Depression, stress, and isolation can lead to other health issues. This can happen easily to seniors living away from family. Whether seniors are living alone and receiving home care, in some type of senior housing, a retirement village, or nursing home, they need to interact with other people.
At Right at Home we offer the following:
- Arrange social and other appointments
- Attend theatre and film performances and art galleries
- Communicate with family members and healthcare professionals
- Visits with friends
- Companionship and friendly conversations
- Help write letters and read the mail
- Set up social functions and visits
How Can Care be Provided?
At Right at Home, care can be provided for a few hours a week, through to 24-hour care.
Sitter Services: Carers are available to sit with and monitor a client during the client’s stay in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.
Overnight Services: Carers are available to provide overnight service, in which they arrive during the evening, assist the client in preparing for bed, and then sleep in the client’s residence during the evening. The service assumes a maximum of 4 active hours of service per shift. Additional services can be provided during the period in the home.
Couples Care: At Right at Home carers are available to provide services to couples at a significantly reduced rate. If a separate care plan is developed, and services are provided to two residents, the fees for the second client are 25% of the cost of services for the first client. If the carer provides services and a care plan to only one person, the single person rate applies.
Transitional Care - Discharge/Outpatient Services
The term “care transitions” for Right at Home refers to the movement patients make between health care practitioners and settings as their condition and care needs change during the course of a chronic or acute illness.
For example, in the course of an acute illness, a patient might receive care from a General Practitioner (GP) or specialist in an outpatient setting, then transition to a hospital physician and nursing team during an inpatient admission, before moving on to yet another care team at a skilled nursing or rehabilitation facility. Finally, the patient might return home, where he or she would receive care from a visiting nurse. Each of these shifts from care providers and settings is defined as a care transition.
At Right at Home we offer the following transitional care services:
- Carers are available to assist clients during the admissions and/or discharge process from a hospital, nursing facility, outpatient clinic or from a surgery centre.
- Post-operative care may include wound dressing and management of medication, but also ensuring the medical instructions are followed.
- Carers are available to transport and or accompany the client to/from the facility and their primary place of residence.
- After some day surgery procedures such as eye surgery and plastic surgery the client may need some one to be with them for a 24-hour period which may include taking them back to the clinic for a post-operative consultation.
- Who would benefit from Right at Home - Home care services?
