Private Duty or Nursing Home?

First and foremost, a private home care nurse or nursing assistant allows your loved one to receive the assistance with daily activities they need in the comfort of their own home. Their care can be delivered in a private setting allowing your loved one to have the maximum flexibility with their personal schedule of daily activities instead of having to conform to a rigid schedule of a facility. If you choose to eat breakfast at noon, no problem, or if you are a night owl and want to stay up and watch “The Tonight Show,” no problem.  Should you need help going to the restroom, your assistance is right there, no need to wait until the caregiver has assisted eight or more other residents. One on one care helps relieve the anxiety of the unknown and allows you to have an environment which is a much closer resemblance to the independence all of us desire.

A Better Environment for Continuity of Care

Home care also creates a better environment to have continuity of care.  Typically your home care is provided by just a couple of caregivers. This also relieves anxiety and makes it easier for your loved one to get to personally know the caregiver that is caring for them.  It reduces their stress to continually work with a caregiver they are already acquainted with by having an ongoing relationship allowing them the constancy of seeing a friendly face. This is especially helpful if your loved one is experiencing any dementia. Continuity helps to establish an extremely important connection and companionship that is often absent in an elderly persons day.  It is a more personal connection with the outside world and helps combat isolation.

Arranging home care does not need to be a difficult task.  A simple telephone call to our office can start the entire process.  We will ask some general questions regarding address, contacts, date of birth and general diagnosis, then we will help by tailoring the care according to your personal needs.  Often a plan of care has been already specified by the doctors office, social worker, or a prior visiting nurse. If this is not the case a family member most usually knows exactly what we can do to make their life easier.  And if perhaps a plan of care is needed we can make arrangements to provide one as a guide for the caregivers to follow.

Private Duty Provides Companionship and Total Care

A private duty in home caregiver can provide everything from companionship to total care of all aspects of daily living activities.  They are able to assist with shopping, doctor appointments, personal hygiene, medication reminders, meal planning and preparation, dressing, bathing, light housekeeping and laundry. Other services they may provide include assistance with ambulation and transfers from bed to chair and assistance with standing. The caregivers goal is to help our clients/patients remain as independent and self confident as possible.

Receiving care in the home can also reduce your family member’s exposure to infectious diseases that are much more common in community living settings.  Since private duty nursing focuses exclusively on your loved one, the caregiver develops a detailed and personal understanding of each person's needs and the health care provider can more rapidly communicate any changes in your loved one’s status to the family and/or physician. Helping your loved one get treatment for a mild upper respiratory infection before it has a chance to become pneumonia is just one way our family can help your family make their loved one’s life a healthier life.

Over 40 Years of Experience and Professionalism

For more than 4 decades A-1 Action Nursing Care has been providing private duty nursing care to families throughout the Washington Metropolitan area.  The very family that has been in the office since the business started is here today, to assist you with that personal service to help provide an easier way of dealing with the needs of your aging loved ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the most common questions we receive:

• What is private duty nursing?
• What are the benefits for senior home care?
• The importance of care from a private duty caregiver.
• How to arrange home health care for your relative.
• Private Duty or Nursing Home?
• How to add home care gradually.