Evaluating your home-care needs

Determining which services you need, or that you might need in the future, can help you decide if you need a caregiver, and if so, what kind. And it might turn out that you don’t need a caregiver at all, but rather individual services like housekeeping or lawn mowing, which might save you money.

Home care tasks. Personal care assistants (PCAs) and home health aides (HHAs) can pick up some of the heavy lifting when it comes to grocery shopping and house cleaning. You can also look into hiring a cleaning service to keep your house in order and do the laundry. A professional lawn service will keep your yard mowed and your flowers cared for, and handle snow removal in the winter.

Grocery shopping and meal preparation. If you don’t drive or don’t want to take public transportation, a PCA can help by driving you to the store and carrying your grocery bags. Some supermarkets will also collect the groceries from your shopping list for you and deliver them to your home. A PCA or HHA can prepare meals for you.

A number of services take care of both tasks, delivering premade meals to your home. Examples are Silver Cuisine (www.silvercuisine.com), Personal Chef to Go (www.personalcheftogo.com), and MagicKitchen.com (www.magickitchen.com). Many of these programs tailor their dishes to common dietary needs and restrictions— offering specialized meal plans for people with diabetes,

Theart disease, or gluten intolerance, for example. If money is an issue, a nonprofit organization like Meals on Wheels (www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org) might be able to help. Senior centers, religious organizations, and some community groups also offer free or reduced-cost meals.

Paying bills. Today, bill paying is a lot easier than it used to be, thanks to online banking services. Many online banking services allow you to set up automatic monthly payments. If you need extra help organizing your finances, hire a certified public accountant, a financial adviser, or both. It’s also helpful to give a trusted family member— such as an adult child—access to your bank accounts and other financial information in case of an emergency.

Transportation. Simple errands can be very difficult if you no longer drive. A taxi or driving service (like Uber or Lyft) will get you where you need to go, but the cost of these services can be prohibitive, and public transportation might not be a viable option.

Your local community might offer a supplemental transportation program (called an STP)—a special bus, van, or car service for people who can’t ride public transportation. Another option is to look for van services or ride sharing offered by nonprofit organizations. You can find these services by visiting the Eldercare Locator www.eldercare.acl.gov) and searching for “Transportation,” or by contacting your local Area Agency on Aging (www.usaging.org)

Types of in-home caregivers

Home care comes in many forms:
• Personal care assistants (PCAs) help with light household and personal tasks, such as housekeeping, dressing, bathing, preparing meals, and driving you to medical appointments.

• Home health aides (HHAs) assist with more personal-care services, such as bathing, dressing, and using the toilet. They can also do light housekeeping tasks and prepare meals.

• Licensed nursing assistants (LNAs) and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) provide medical services.

• Registered nurses (RNs) have a nursing degree and provide medical care—including administering treatments and medications.