What’s The Difference Between Companion Care and Personal Care?
Being able to care for your aging loved one is a great opportunity to express your love and care for them. However, you may find that you’re not able to meet all their needs on your own. You may even find that you need to take a break from time to time. Fortunately, in-home care services are available to enable your aging loved one to continue living at home for as long as possible. However, now you’re faced with the decision of whether to take companion care services or personal care services. Below, we discuss these two types of in-home care services to help you determine which one would suit you best.
What is Companion Care?
Companionship and social interaction are some of our basic needs as humans. These needs don’t change with age. If anything, the elderly need more social interaction to stay healthy physically and psychologically. Yet, the elderly find it harder to make friends, go out and meet their friends as well as attend social events on their own because of their deteriorating health. This is where a home care companion can help.
Are you wondering ‘what is a care companion?’ Companion care is designed to provide the elderly with companionship as well as other non-medical services. Some of these services that a care companion can offer include:
- Accompanying the elderly to appointments and when running errands
- Cleaning, dusting, organizing and other light housework
- Planning and preparing meals as well as clean up after meals
- Washing, folding, drying and other laundry tasks
- Keeping them company and participating in activities that they enjoy
What is Personal Care?
As we age, our health begins to deteriorate. The elderly find that they are unable to perform various tasks on their own. They may also suffer from degenerative health conditions and their health may also be at risk. At this stage of life, the elderly may require assistance from trained persons in order to continue living in their homes.
Personal care is designed to provide all the benefits of companion care in addition to providing basic medical services. Personal caregivers must meet certain criteria including formal training, certification and even licensing. For example, at Companion Care, our personal caregivers are all Home Health Aides or Certified Nursing Assistants.
Services provided by personal caregivers may include:
- Assistance with toileting
- Assistance with personal grooming and hygiene including bathing, dressing, brushing teeth, hair care and skin care.
- Taking temperature, pulse, blood pressure and respiration readings
- Meal planning and preparation
- Assistance with devices such as walkers and wheelchairs
- Changing catheter bags and colostomy bags
- Assisting with administering of medication or giving medication reminders
What Kind of Care Do I Need?
Now that you understand the difference between companion care and personal care services, you may be wondering what kind of care services your aging loved one will benefit the most from. Both of these services are available for in-home care. This means that both types of services will allow your aging loved one to continue living safely and comfortably within their home. However, it is important to choose the right type of service to meet your loved one’s needs.
Personal care services are ideal for those whose condition requires more specialized care. This type of care is ideal if your loved one has difficulty with mobility, is suffering from a chronic health condition or requires direct physical assistance and supervision by a medically trained caregiver.
Companion care is a great option if your loved one only needs social support and would also benefit from having someone to assist them with running errands and light housekeeping.
Contact us for Personal Care or Companion Care
At Family Resource Home Care formerly known as Companion Care, Inc. we provide services for both companion care and personal companion. Get in touch with us now to learn more about our services as well as to discuss your needs. We’d be happy to help.