In this day and age, life is fast-paced. It’s hard to make time for the things that matter. But there are some things you simply cannot compromise on, and that’s home care service for your loved ones. Whether it’s companionship and minor assistance for your aging parents or personal care and respite services for your disabled loved one, the most important thing next to the quality of those services is the compassion with which they are carried out. That’s why at Philadelphia Home Care Agency, empathy and dignity are top priorities for our caregivers.
Benefits of Compassionate Home Care
The benefits of home care that prioritizes compassion should be apparent to just about anyone. A compassionate caregiver simply provides care that leaves the recipient feeling heard, seen, and respected. It’s important for caregivers to remember that just because someone requires the services of an in-home caregiver, it doesn’t mean that they deserve any less dignity and respect than any other person. Furthermore, a truly compassionate caregiver is capable of committing more of their emotional energy to the task at hand.
Essential Qualities of Compassionate Caregivers
Compassion is the foundation of the many other important attributes of a quality caregiver. What follows are a few of the most important qualities that are always embodied by our caregivers.
- Patience: Any experienced caregiver knows that patience is a virtue that must be employed often. A strong capacity for patience allows a caregiver to keep their cool under the most difficult of circumstances.
- Time management: This is a quality very important for senior care but applies to all types of caregiving. Time management is particularly relevant when the patient has a strict schedule that must be adhered to, especially when medication must be administered on a very strict timetable.
- Physical stamina: When the patient is physically disabled and must be moved between locations frequently, physical stamina is extremely important for a caregiver. Patients who lack mobility often must be physically assisted in tasks such as getting out of bed, going to the bathroom, and showering. This can quickly become exhausting for a caregiver with low stamina.
- Problem-solving skills: One of the things that many caregivers enjoy about their work is that no two days are ever the same. Each day offers its own set of unique challenges to be overcome. For a person with highly capable problem-solving abilities, these unique challenges never become overwhelming and are always handled quickly and efficiently.
- Reliability: The reality of at-home caregiving is that caregivers are human beings too. Sometimes emergencies occur, and a caregiver who was scheduled to come in suddenly cannot. That’s why it’s important to have a team of reliable caregivers at the ready who can come in at a moment’s notice to cover when life’s inconveniences come up.
Challenges and Considerations
Caregivers typically face a great many challenges in their day-to-day work. One of the reasons that compassion is such an important trait in a caregiver is that it allows them to provide the highest quality care imaginable even when the person being cared for is not being receptive to their efforts. This can be an issue for low-compassion caregivers who must provide care for people suffering from neurological conditions that lower their own capacities for empathy, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Being a high-compassion caregiver enables the caregiver to look past the symptoms of the disease causing the person to act this way and instead empathize with the strife of the person’s situation.
If a caregiver is lacking in compassion and also happens to be working with a patient going through difficult times, it can lead to very severe personal consequences. That patient may lash out at the people around them—even those who care about them the most. This can lead to struggles with depression, anxiety, and low job motivation. These problems can further bleed over into the caregiver’s personal life, affecting their own relationships and even creating physical health concerns.
Professional Home Care Tailored to Your Lifestyle
Ultimately, compassionate caregiving comes naturally when the type of care is being personally tailored to the unique lifestyle and circumstances of the patient. That’s why New Beginnings Home Care takes the time to match patients with caregivers that fit their unique needs and circumstances. Simply taking the time to consider those factors before assigning a caregiver to a patient can save loads of emotional energy and strife down the line.
More than anything, we want to connect our patients with caregivers that can not only provide the services they need and deserve, but also provide the compassion and empathy that we believe characterize excellence in this industry. So if you or a loved one are in need of a professional in-home caregiver, please contact New Beginnings Home Care today.
