Caring for an aging parent can feel overwhelming, especially if your parent has a medical condition that isn’t well controlled or causes difficulty with mobility and safety issues at home. When managing your parent’s condition becomes too much to handle, professional home health care can provide the kind of support and assistance you need. VNSNY’s highly skilled and trained professionals work together as a team and provide a broad array of services.

Our professionals include:

• Registered nurses who work closely with your parent’s primary care provider to manage at-home care. During a visit to your parent’s home, a nurse will evaluate his or her needs as they relate to a medical condition, injury, or post-operative recovery and develop a personalized plan of care for taking medication, monitoring vital signs and risk factors, and managing stress and lifestyle issues; the nurse will continue to coordinate the delivery of services and revise the plan as necessary.
• Rehabilitation therapists who provide treatments following surgery, an illness, or an accident.
  • Physical therapists can help your parent regain strength, flexibility, coordination, and other aspects of general function.
  • Occupational therapists can help your parent regain the skills he or she needs to function in her daily activities, such as dressing or bathing safely.
  • Speech therapists and speech language pathologists can help people regain their ability to speak or understand speech after an illness, such as a stroke.
  • Respiratory therapists can assist with respiratory or pulmonary problems.
• Certified home health aides who can provide personal care (such as bathing or dressing), check vital signs under specific circumstances, and help keep track of your parent’s symptoms. They can also shop for and prepare healthy meals that may be prescribed by a dietitian, as well as assist with laundry and household chores.
• Home attendants (a.k.a., personal care workers) who can help with basic activities of daily living—bathing, dressing, grooming, making yourself more comfortable at home, walking, eating, shopping, paying bills, doing laundry, and taking your parent to medical appointments.
• Licensed social workers who can assess your parent’s physical, functional, emotional, environmental, and social needs and offer strategies and resources for support.
• Registered dietitians who will evaluate your parent’s nutritional needs and develop a meal plan that can help enhance health, based on his or her medical conditions. If your parent has or develops conditions that can complicate her current health problems, additional dietary adjustments may be warranted.

Getting the Most from Your Care

The best way to make at-home care successful: Prepare for it in advance by making a list of responsibilities and chores you’d like the home care professional to take on. This way, you can be sure your parent will receive the help he or she needs. It's also smart to map out a schedule for meals, medications, sleep, exercise, and other activities, and to compile a list of emergency phone numbers for doctors, as well as friends and family members who can help in a pinch.