Three Ways That A Home Health Aide Can Protect Your Elderly Parent

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Three Ways That A Home Health Aide Can Protect Your Elderly Parent

29 March 2017
 Categories: , Blog


When you hire a home health aide to spend time caring for your elderly parent in his or her home, you can breathe a sigh of relief that your loved one is safer. There are several different ways that a home care worker can make your parent safer — a straightforward way is by helping him or her get in and out of the bathtub, as well as maneuver around the house, to avoid falling. However, there are a number of other types of safety that your parent's home health aide can provide. Here are three examples.

Fire Safety

When your parent lives independently, one issue that you may worry about is a house fire. The risk of such an occurrence might technically be low, but if your parent is in the early stages of dementia and makes mistakes such as leaving the stove on with unattended food on it, there may be a heightened risk of a fire. You can alleviate your worry when you know that a home health aide is with your parent. Typically, this healthcare worker will take care of the cooking duties, so there will be no risk of your parent making a mistake in the kitchen that results in a fire.

Financial Safety

Elderly people are often targeted financially, which can be a huge concern to their family members. For example, someone may come to the door to ask your parent to sign up for a contractor for furnace maintenance — this may actually be a case of fraud, as the salesperson will collect the funds but then never show up again. Fraudsters may also call elderly people on the phone, pretending to be a bank or credit institute representative in order to gain the person's personal financial information. A home health aide on the scene can prevent such issues by answering the door and intervening in the case of any suspicious phone calls.

Transportation Safety

When your parent is elderly, you'll likely worry about him or her driving. Dementia-related issues could cause your parent to be confused about the rules of the road or otherwise drive in an unsafe manner, thus endangering not only himself or herself, but also other motorists and pedestrians. Hiring a home care worker alleviates this concern. The healthcare professional will take care of driving your elderly parent wherever he or she needs to go, thus making the journey much safer.

To learn more about the service provided by a home health aide, contact a company like ActiveCare Home Care.