Homecare Training Essential for Caregivers

Training is essential for in home caregivers to ensure the happiness, health and wellbeing of their patient or loved one in addition to providing necessary information to the caregiver on proper care techniques to provide a safe, healthy and supportive environment.

Many of us are tasked with caring for an aging parent, relative or family member with a disability. Frequently, most of us were unprepared for the role of primary caregiver and quickly learned how stressful and complex the role of in home caregiver can be. There are homecare training programs available that have been created by healthcare professionals to help the in home caregiver learn how to create a positive living environment along with providing the much needed technical detail that many family members do not have when beginning the process of being a primary caregiver. However, many of us may not have the time or resources available to obtain formal training before taking on the responsibility.

Listed below are suggestions to keep in mind when caring for a family member in their home or your own.

1) Learn techniques for the personal care of your loved one including proper techniques for bathing, lifting and carrying.

2) Learn to recognize early warning signs of health issues. Also, learn to check basic vital signs.

3) Be sure to respect the dignity and boundaries of your patient.

4) Ensure your loved ones physical and nutritional needs are met.

5) Provide emotional support and be sure you have emotional support, you’ll need it.

6) Know the local resources that are available to help you and the one you are caring for.

7) Maintain your own good health and wellbeing.

Keeping these suggestions in mind will help you provide a positive and healthy environment for you, your patient and your family. Proper in home care can make an enormous difference in your loved ones life and can mean the difference in being forced to enter a nursing facility versus maintaining independence and living at home.

Contact your local hospital, council on aging or community college to inquiry about formal home care training programs in your area. Additionally, look for programs that are recommended, endorsed or approved by the National Alliance for Caregiving or the National Family Caregivers Association.

Sandwich Generation Responsibilites

Caring for your aging parents is one of the responsibilities that go along with being of the sandwich generation. Making the right decision regarding the care of your aging parent s and relatives can sometimes be difficult and will always be emotional. There are steps that can make your life a bit easier, and theirs too.


Talk to your Parents and find out about their wishes and expectations. You should discuss long-term care insurance, living arrangements, medical care, financial and estate planning.
Prepare a personal data record and collect all the information you would need if your parents were to become incapacitated or die. This information includes financial information, legal documents, medical information and accounts, insurance policies, and funeral and burial wishes or plans.


Get support and advice if you are concerned about your parent’s mental or physical capacities. You can ask their doctor for a geriatric assessment. Seek help from a geriatric manager if you can’t care for your parents yourself. Support groups, adult day care and caregiver training are available if you are their primary caregiver.


Explore long term care for your parents. It may seem like a long way off, but it’s just around the corner. Some families are able to bring aging parents into their own homes, but others are not. An alternative is to purchase long-term care insurance to help cover all or part of the costs for in-home care or assisted living facilities.


Housing Options should be considered when you are no longer able to care for your parents at home or the services of the paid in-home caregiver become inadequate.



Assisted living facilities usually offer rental rooms, housekeeping services, meals, social activities and transportation. The primary focus is social for these types of facilities and they are not equipped to provide medical care. They are often state-licensed and serve seniors who need more help than independent living communities can provide. The costs for these facilities vary.



Nursing Homes are always state-licensed facilities and offer 24 hour access to medical care at three levels. (Skilled nursing, intermediate care and custodial care) Payment options must be explored as nursing homes are expensive. Payment options to be considered are: use of personal savings, retirement plans, long-term care insurance and Medicaid.


Caring for your aging parents and ultimately making the decision on long term care will be difficult and emotional, but thorough research of options can help ease the stress associated with this process. Involving your parents in the decision making when possible can help with their acceptance of the change in living arrangement s and allow for a smoother transition.

Technology and Long Distance Care

They were simpler times that our parents lived in. Multigenerational families lived in the same house, or usually just blocks away from each other. Today, many families live hundreds, even thousands of miles away from each other making caring for aging parents difficult when life stage events occur.

The world we live in today allows us to become educated allowing us to secure jobs with the potential to relocate us around the globe. Growing up, many of us dream of the day when we can move away from our home town. New and exciting cities and jobs lure us away from our friends and most importantly, our families. We live our lives usually going home for holidays and significant life stage events such as birthdays, anniversaries and graduations. This is fine and life goes on keeping in contact with our families on those special occasions mixing in the occasional phone call and text message. As we age, it’s inevitable that our parents age too. While many of us think of our parents as always young it’s reality that they age as we age.

The reality is that we will all be faced with helping our parents through those life stage events in their golden years. The challenge is doing that effectively, while living thousands of miles away. Technology today in many ways seems to complicate the lives of our parents. Many have no desire to learn how to use technology to their advantage. We must show our parents that they can overcome their fears of technology and that overcoming those obstacles can help in the communication and decision making. The example I’ll use is the use of computers and webcams. I realize that working through health care issues and setting up in home care or assisted living arrangements probably will require visits and extended stays, but teaching your parent to use a computer and webcam can provide you daily face to face opportunities to chat with your loved ones.

I’ve learned from experience. I chat daily with my Mom and can tell when she is not feeling well. Using a telephone and calling daily is great, and I encourage that, but having a face to face conversation using the webcam is priceless. Webcams today are easy to use, and many come built into laptops now and even in desktop monitors. The software is free as most instant messaging services offer free webcam service. It all sounds great, but how do you get someone who can’t or won’t program the VCR to use a computer?

Like I mentioned, webcam software has become very easy to use. You just open the instant message window, and click on the person you want to chat with, and finally, click on the webcam icon. The person you are calling must then accept the call, and once that happens, both parties can see and hear each other. Many senior centers offer computer classes that will help teach the basics and train our seniors on everything they need to know to quickly become subject matter experts on the basics of computing. This is a great way to get your parents involved in a hobby, and just think of the hours of fun you and your children can have chatting face to face with Grandma and Grandpa.

It’s a great way to improve communications, but also a good tool in helping to manage the issues of the sandwich generation.