When Your Senior Needs Care, You Need a Support Network

Finding care for your aging parent is a huge responsibility and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Can your dad age in place, or do you need to consider a residential facility? Should you hire a private caregiver or a licensed home health aide? How will you finance care?

There’s no shortage of resources online, but the answers to these questions are different for every family. And reading too many care guides can leave you reeling.

What you really need is someone who has been in your shoes – someone who understands both the emotional and logistical challenges – and can guide you through the confusing world of elder care step by step.

» Download our free guide to home care, "From Crisis to Caregiver."

Signs That You Need Support

While you may wish to care for your senior out of a sense of duty or love, that does not mean you need to go it alone. Nor should needing an extra hand or two be a reason to feel guilty.

Burnout among family caretakers is one of the top causes of stress and fragmentation between adult children and their elderly parents. The average family caretaker devotes 26 hours per week to their loved one, which can add a tremendous workload on top of a 40-hour workweek.

If you experience the following, then it’s time to ask for support to share the load:

• Physical exhaustion: Have you appeared tired or suffered from frequent headaches and body aches recently? These, along with poor sleep quality, could be signs of added stress and physical exhaustion.
• Emotional volatility: In the past few weeks, have you exhibited irritability, tearfulness, or anxiety? Do small setbacks that wouldn't normally bother you now trigger strong emotional responses? If so, it may be a sign that you are worn thin by the stress.
• Neglecting personal care: Have you felt that your appearance, hygiene, or physical health may have declined recently? This includes skipping meals, postponing your medical appointments, or stopping exercising.
• Financial stress indicators: Does caring for a parent add a financial burden that increases your stress? Are you using your savings for care or showing signs of struggling to balance work and caregiving responsibilities?

How to Get Help Caring for Your Loved One

If you find that you are getting closer to the end of your rope, it’s time to reach out for help. That could be enlisting friends and family to assist or seeking professional help from a home care company. When working with a professional pool of caregivers, you can expect the following:

• Help finding a quality caregiver
• Access to emergency and replacement caregivers
• Expert advice based on firsthand experience

Help Finding a Quality Caregiver

Finding a caregiver on your own is difficult. Placing an ad is risky, and asking around is time-consuming – and you may not find someone for your particular needs. You can always try social media but can you really trust a referral from a friend of a friend of a friend?

A top-notch caregiver network provides a much more reliable word-of-mouth recommendation. Qualified networks such as LeanOnWe will thoroughly vet their caregivers, including doing top-level fingerprint background checks, conducting face-to-face interviews, and speaking personally to at least two or three families the caregiver has worked with recently. Your network should also verify its caregivers’ healthcare licenses and education credentials and ensure that they can legally work in the United States.

Access to Emergency and Replacement Care

When you personally choose a caregiver from a qualified network, you’re guaranteed to find someone who is an excellent fit for your family. Hopefully, it happens on the first try. But, if your initial caregiver doesn’t work out as you hoped, or if she gets sick or decides the job isn’t right for them, your network should be ready to step in and help you find a replacement immediately.

When you hire on your own, you have to go back to the drawing board every time this happens, or you have to live with a caregiver you don’t like. An extensive caregiver network saves you the headache by constantly maintaining a pool of vetted candidates and recommending those best suited to your needs.

Expert Advice Based on 1st-Hand Experience

Nothing can replace first-hand experience in home care. When you work with a caregiver network, you should expect to receive expert guidance from someone who has hired home care for her own family, providing care, or both.

The company should be able to help you identify several suitable caregivers for your family; provide guidance as you interview, evaluate, and hire the best candidate; and offer advice as new questions or challenges arise. Hiring home care is always personal, but when you establish a trusted, ongoing relationship with a company, it doesn’t have to be stressful.

If your current caregiver network doesn’t measure up to these standards, it may be time to look for another solution. You should never feel stuck in your current situation.

Thinking About Home Care? Download Our Free Guide “From Crisis to Caregiver”

If the thought of hiring a caregiver makes you feel overwhelmed, we recommend downloading our free eBook, “From Crisis to Caregiver: An Uncomplicated Guide to Home Care.”

This eBook discusses the ins and outs of hiring a caregiver, arming you with a trustworthy resource to make the best decision for your loved one. Our eBook takes a no-nonsense look at:

• The realities of financing senior care
• Straight talk about the pros and cons of the three common home care options
• Our own stories of hiring caregivers are a way to highlight the unexpected pitfalls you’ll want to avoid

Click the button below to download the free guide and take the first step toward approaching the hiring process with confidence and peace of mind.

Download the Free Guide:
From Crisis to Caregiver

You'll learn:

• How to hire a caregiver for your loved one
• Pros and cons of the most home care hiring options
• Strategies for managing costs
• Advice on challenges you may encounter

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