Holistic care is one of those popular catchphrases in the medical community, but do you know what it actually is? If not, this brief summary of holistic senior care will help you to gain a better understanding of what it is, and will help you to better evaluate whether it is something that your family might benefit from.
To summarize, holistic care focuses on all of an individual’s needs. This typically includes alternative or complementary care. When applied to senior care, this means that medical, physical, and mental needs are all provided for through a trained caregiver or caregiver service. Some people have some reservations with this kind of care, and that’s completely understandable. It is different than what most are used to and it’s not right for everyone. As a general rule of thumb, if you are not comfortable with something with your loved one’s care, it is probably best to stay away from it.
Breaking this down a little bit more, we might see a senior citizen that is no longer able to get around their house with ease any more. A holistic care service would use the same starting point that any care service might. They would look at the need: assistance with the activities of daily living, and design a care program from there. This might include meal preparation, bathing, transferring, and getting to and from doctors’ appointments.
That’s a good start. A holistic approach goes a bit further. They might look at some of the root causes of why the person in need is having difficulty getting around. If it’s because of pain, then a safe way to relieve pain would be sought after. Sometimes this includes alternative methods like acupuncture–but it doesn’t necessarily need to. The caregiver would also look at basic human needs, such as companionship. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why we believe in-home care is so powerful. Yes, there are a lot of generic needs like eating and getting dressed out there, but people are so much more than this. Having the right caregiver working with someone in a one on one setting establishes friendship and companionship that cannot be easily replicated with other types of care. In-home care has a built in mechanism to ensure that these advanced needs are also met.
Care can be costly, and taking a holistic method might be too expensive for some people. If you have any questions about paying for a loved one’s care, get in touch with our care team at Paradise In-Home Care today. We can work with you and your family to make sure that you aren’t spending too much on care and that you are getting a great quality of care for your dollar. We can also point you toward resources to help offset costs. Our free consultations can help you get a feel for what services we offer and help you to determine which type of care is best for your family. Call us today and we can work together to see if our services are right for your family and your unique set of needs.
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