When you have to take care of a parent who has lost their autonomy following an illness such as Alzheimer's disease or a stroke, for example, and you are still in professional activity, the best thing is to do call a home health aide .
The initiative is often costly, although the State tries to lighten this burden as much as possible for the main parties concerned. Some complementary mutuals cover part of these expenses. Otherwise, you have to find other sources of income. Blogs like Le Mag du Senior talk about it and indicate the best way to take care of your parents without breaking the bank.
The nurse's aide goes to the patient's home, and generally helps him get up, washes him or grooms him, dresses him or gives him support, gives him food, accompanies him to all his movements, and helps him to relieve himself if necessary, according to the degree of dependence. This type of mission also concerns people with quadriplegia, or people with extremely limited motor skills.
The caregiver ensures that the senior takes their medication correctly. On the health side, she will have to regularly monitor the patient's condition through daily observations. In this sense, the nursing assistant is called upon to work in close collaboration with the patient's attending physician. In general, he is also the one who recommended the need for help for the latter.
In addition to her primary duties of caring for the elderly, the caregiver must also keep them company, to make them feel as good as possible during the time she is at home. We can also say that it is part of the care of the patient, because regularly inquiring about his condition, his needs and his expectations, makes it possible to better take care of him.
It is then necessary to remain attentive and put the senior in confidence. Once the nurse has spent some time with the senior, she will succeed in establishing a relationship of trust or friendship with him. Especially since at this age and faced with this kind of situation, we often become more difficult to live with. To perform their tasks as well as possible, the nurse's aide must know by heart the habits, the rhythm of life, the care to be provided, and all the other details concerning the patient's life.
Some take time to find a trusted and qualified caregiver. Certain conditions limit access to this type of service, including its exorbitant cost for the majority of the population. Home care without concrete means of financing can climb up to 3,000 euros per month. It is therefore important not to be mistaken about the person recruited.
Families who do not have the financial means to directly recruit a home health aide may be entitled to the personalized autonomy allowance (Apa), financial aid from the General Council, for which you must complete certain conditions:be at least 60 years old, have lost part or all of their autonomy, be below a certain level of resources.
On the nursing side, to be able to exercise the profession, you must be a graduate after having followed a training course. The professional can also claim a "validation of achievements", which is a kind of certificate stipulating that she can perfectly exercise the profession following her skills and qualifications. As the nursing staff at home may have to evacuate the patient to the hospital in an emergency, they must also have a B driving licence.
Aware of the fall in the purchasing power of retired seniors, several establishments, notably mutual insurance companies, offer them various types of care depending on the situation of each one. Some lay down the conditions that the senior is dependent and refuse him care if he lives in an equipped residence. Others offer dependency guarantees, i.e. the payment of a monthly allowance to dependent people suffering from degenerative diseases causing them to partially or totally lose their autonomy. Attention, it is, neither more nor less, than a kind of insurance that you have to pay.
As for parents who host a senior in their home, they will be able to call on the services of a professional at home and will benefit from a tax reduction linked to home employment. A standard income deduction may also be applied when you file your income tax return. In any case, the care of seniors in our society will cost more and more.
