Before explaining what a home help actually does it might be worth thinking about what the support provided is intended to achieve. Here at Beloved Homecare we know from experience exactly how transformative support and help in the home can be. We’ve seen first-hand that people – whether they are elderly, convalescent or disabled – can live a full and rewarding life provided they are given the right kind of emotional and practical support.
A Friendly Face
The mention of emotions and practicality is no accident, since we feel that the secret to delivering care to people in their own homes lies in finding the perfect balance between these two factors; to be a source of hands-on help and assistance with tasks which have become difficult if not impossible, and to provide companionship in the form of a smiling face, a friendly voice and someone to chat to. The ideal home help is someone who delivers exactly what the client needs, no more or less, and finds the perfect blend of the practical and the emotional. In fact, when home help is delivered as it should be, any dividing line separating practical and emotional help disappears, and everything becomes simply supporting the client in a way which enriches their life.
Maintain Independence
As well as drawing on our own experiences we can refer to experts in the field of health and social care and the role which they think support in the home has to play. According to leading health charity The King’s Fund, which has been ‘working to improve health and care in England’ since 1897’ this is what the support of carers such as home helps should be designed to deliver:
“… the ability to remain at home in clean, warm, affordable accommodation; to remain socially engaged; to continue with activities that give their life meaning; to contribute to their family or community; to feel safe and to maintain independence, choice, control, personal appearance and dignity; to be free from discrimination; and to feel they are not a ‘burden’ to their own families and that they can continue their own role as caregivers.”
Tailored Care Plan
That statement was made in 2014, but it’s a timeless summary of what we feel our clients can expect from us. That’s why, in one sense, the question ‘What does a home help do?’ can only really be answered with ‘It depends…’ It depends upon exactly what the client in question needs, with a bespoke care plan for each individual created from the ground up, working in partnership with the client themselves, their family members and, when needed, relevant healthcare professionals. We’ve learned that every client in unique, so every domiciliary care plan has to be bespoke and tailored to their personal needs. From a baseline which involves delivering personal comfort, hygiene and dignity this care plan can be built up to encompass everything that a client wants and needs in order to feel safe and comfortable in their own home. The services delivered by a home help could include any of the following:
Dressing and Hygiene
Helping a client to get dressed and undressed with care and dignity, making sure that they are dressed appropriately for the season and the ambient temperature and that they feel comfortable.
Any limit on physical movement can make the act of washing and bathing difficult if not impossible. A home help will assist clients in this, ensuring that they maintain the right level of personal hygiene. This is vital not just for physical health but also for mental well-being and a vital sense of dignity. The same applies to shaving and grooming, which is one way in which a home help can ensure the client maintains their own sense of self. For someone who has always prided themselves on being well-groomed, the inability to keep up appearances could be deeply upsetting, and a home help will ensure that this doesn’t happen. This may involve helping with hair, make up and nails, things which may seem trivial at first glance but which we know are a vital means of helping clients to maintain their unique identity.
Delivering incontinence care is a key aspect of some clients’ home help plan. The carer will work to ensure that the client not only feels clean and comfortable but that they don’t experience any of the embarrassment which could sometimes accompany this kind of help if it isn’t delivered in a sensitive and empathetic manner.
Nutrition and Medication
The home help will monitor the nutritional input and weight of a client in order to ensure that they are eating and drinking as they need to. In many cases they will also help with the preparation and consumption of food and drink, doing so in a way that ensures that this remains a pleasurable part of the client’s daily routine. They will also support the client to take any medications prescribed when they need to be taken, whether in the form of tablets, creams, ointments or drops.
Domestic Chores
In addition to looking after the well-being of the client themselves, a home help will work to make sure that their environment is maintained. For a client to feel comfortable in their home, that home has to be kept clean and tidy, and for many clients the impact of ageing and/or illness can render this extremely difficult to do. A home help can either give a helping hand with domestic chores or take over responsibility for them completely, making sure that activities such as vacuuming, washing up, dusting, laundry and cleaning bathrooms and kitchens is done in a thorough and effective manner. As with every other aspect of their role, the home help will perform duties of this kind in a manner and with an attitude which ensures the client feels comfortable handing the responsibility over. The client should never feel that they are a burden when a home help does things like housework or collecting prescriptions and doing shopping, since this fear is often what prevents people from reaching out for help in the first place. The approach and manner of the home help will ensure that the client never feels this way.
This is just a brief summary of what a home help does because, as we say, what they do is dictated by what the client wants them to do. To a large degree how the help is delivered is even more important than what that help is, and the home helps at Beloved Homecare deliver all of the help they provide in a manner which is friendly, empathetic and caring.