When Jeannine agreed to take on the role of being a caregiver for her mother, she didn’t know what she was getting into. Her mother had required major surgery when she was 76, and living alone, the doctor told her that there were going to be a number of things that she wouldn’t be able to do on her own. That’s when Jeannine stepped up and told her mother that since she only lived a few miles away, it made sense to her to be her in-home care provider.

During the first week that her mother was home after being discharged from the hospital, Jeannine didn’t know what she was doing. In time, she began to realize the things that her mother needed help with, and then she was able to provide better home care.

However, as time progressed, it became clear that she was going to require a higher level of care for a longer period of time and this meant that Jeannine was going to need to make a decision: she was either going to have to look into hiring professional in-home care providers, or she was going to have to learn to do more, or better ways of assisting her mother.

She decided on the latter because she was enjoying spending more time with her mother. Her work life wasn’t placing too much stress on her life and she didn’t work more than part-time hours, wasn’t married, and didn’t have any other family who relied on her, so she didn’t mind spending more time at her mother’s house. Still, this didn’t help her learn better methods for providing home care for her mother.

That’s when she began to seek out other caregivers as a way to talk about the care that they provide to their loved ones or patients. She figured that if she could learn about the things that other providers did, she would eventually become a better caregiver herself.

She was right, too. She set up a local group for caregivers and she began to learn a lot from the others who were providing home care for loved ones, or strangers. They talked about their experiences and the strategies that seemed to work for each of them.

If you are a caregiver, when you begin to connect with others, then you will not only find camaraderie through this affiliation, but you can also learn a number of strategies that could help you become an even better caregiver.

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Donna Wrabel, LMSW

Co-Owner at At Your Side Home Care

For most of us, the word "home" evokes warm feelings of comfort, security and well-being. For older adults, home also means holding tight to cherished memories and maintaining self-esteem and independence. When illness, injury or age make life a little more challenging, remaining at home in a comfortable, familiar environment encourages recovery and enhances the quality of life. Home can be defined as a private residence, an independent or assisted living facility or even a short term stay in the hospital, we recognize the additional benefits provided by a personal, professional assistant.

Our Certified Nurse Aides, 24-Hour Live-in Assistants and Home Health Aides are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also provide the security and confidence of 24-hour Telephone Assistance, so fast, reliable help is always available when it's needed. To learn more about our homecare services see our homecare services page.

Different people need different levels of homecare. To meet the requirements of our clients, At Your Side Homecare maintains consistent staffing levels of caring professionals. Homecare service is available for as little as a few hours a week, or as many as 24 hours a day, seven days a week

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