With Christmas drawing ever nearer, families around the country are turning their thoughts to arrangements for the festive period. For many, this involves more than finding the perfect presents and the finest fir tree - it also requires careful thought about how best to look after family members requiring additional care and attention.
Using a carer for the holiday period is an easy way to ensure those relatives get the assistance they need, allowing everyone to relax and enjoy cherished time with family and friends.
Home care for Christmas
Christmas is traditionally a time for family and friends - eating delicious food, watching old favourite films and watching our youngest family members delight in the magic of the occasion. However, if you or a loved one requires help with practical tasks like dressing, washing or just getting about, it can be difficult to juggle these tasks and still enjoy yourself. Having someone else on hand to assist gives everyone involved the peace of mind they need to appreciate the time together.
For some families, using a live-in carer is a way to let the usual family carer have a break and enjoy the holidays. For others, it is a way to enable those living in residential homes to stay with their loved ones for a few precious days. Either way, it will ensure that hosting parents, grandparents or friends is considered a joy and an honour, not a challenge. Alternatively, if it is necessary to leave a family member alone over the holidays - perhaps in order to spend it with the in-laws - knowing that they have company and are being looked after is invaluable.
Carers can be booked to spend anything from a few hours to a few weeks staying in your home. They can help with anything you need, from medication prompts and assistance getting around to personal tasks such as bathing and dressing. If you are lucky, they may even be able to assist with peeling the sprouts!
Organising home care for Christmas
While the Christmas period is a busy time for care agencies and organisations, by planning ahead you can maximise your chances of finding a perfectly suited, experienced carer.
We recommend talking openly about home care options with everyone involved before making any decisions. It’s very normal for someone to be nervous about receiving care from someone other than their primary caregiver, especially if that person is not well known to them. To get around this, many families find it useful to arrange for a carer to visit in advance, sometimes more than once. This doesn’t even have to be in person, thanks to video calling software such like Facetime and Skype.
If you are leaving your loved one with a new carer whilst going away for Christmas, a short overlap can also be very helpful, not just for them but also for you - you will be able to relax that much more when you are confident your carer knows what the care recipient needs and wants.
At SuperCarers, we do everything we can to help families find their perfect carer based on interests and personalities as well as care needs. This includes shortlisting suitable candidates for you to meet and interview first, before making any decision - so you can be completely confident that they are the right fit for you.
Call one of our care advisors on 020 8629 1030 or click here to find your perfect carer.
You may also be interested in our article about respite care over Christmas and about how to care for a loved one with dementia at Christmas.