As we age, tasks that used to be a simple everyday part of our personal lives become more difficult to handle without assistance.

Personal Care services, provided by professional caregivers (typically CNA’s), help with the Activities of Daily Living.

The 6 Activities of Daily Living which Medicare defines as:

• Eating
• Bathing
• Dressing
• Toileting
• Transferring
• Continence

Assisting with eating, including:

• preparing food for care recipients with eating difficulties & following special diets.
• monitoring nutrition as well as food and liquid intake.
• following special diets.
• observing eating behaviors.
• monitoring eating safety risks such as swallowing and choking.

Assisting with bathing including:

• bed, sponge, tub or shower bathing.
• perineal care.
• Using bath equipment, including:
• tub seat, hydraulic tub seat and hand-held shower wand.

Assisting with tooth care including:

• brushing permanent teeth, flossing & using rubber pick.
• removing, cleaning, and inserting dentures.
• Assisting/providing grooming, including:
• shaving with an electric or safety razor, and/or beard trimming.
• applying make-up.

Assisting/providing hair care, including:

• shampooing, brushing and styling.
• Assisting with bowel regularity, including:
• monitoring bowel movements and appearance.
• following prescribed diets for bowel maintenance.

Assisting with transfers including:

• one person pivot transfer, 2-person transfers or using transfer belts or mechanical lifts.
• using wheelchair, walker and/or cane.

Assisting with self-administered medication, including:

• placing medication within reach of the care recipient.
• providing water for oral medication.
• storing medications.

Assisting/providing basic skin care, including:

• washing and drying.
• applying non-prescription body lotions or creams.
• observing skin changes.

Assisting with dressing including putting on support stockings, which do not require a physician’s prescription.

Assisting with nail maintenance including:

• soaking, trimming, pushing back cuticles & filing, except as outlined in Notes below.

Assisting with personal hygiene including:

• Emptying or changing external urinary collecting devices, including catheter bags and supra-pubic bags.
• Encouraging care recipients to perform normal body movements, as tolerated.
• Assisting with prosthetics such as applying/removing/cleaning hearing aids and limbs.
• Assisting with menstrual care.
• Assistance with urinals, bedpans and/or commodes.
• Providing bowel and bladder incontinence care.
• Assisting with positioning in bed, wheelchair and other chairs.
• Assisting with positioning cradles, rolls and pillows.
• Assisting with transferring back and forth from bed, wheelchair, toilet and chair.
• Emptying, cleaning, and changing urinary drainage bags.
• Performing passive range-of-motion exercises on care recipient.

  Some might need help with all of these tasks, others with only one or two.

  Generally the amount of care needed with these activities drives the amount of on-site caregiving required.

  Detailed Review of Personal Care Services

Dementia is a general term to describe a group of symptoms such as loss of memory, judgment, language and other intellectual function. It is caused by permanent damage to the brain’s nerve cells. Causes include disease (such as Alzheimer’s), vascular destruction, trauma and alcohol.

Clinical symptoms and progression of dementia vary depending on the type of disease and the location and number of damaged brain cells. Some types progress slowly over years while others may result in sudden loss of intellectual function.

Experienced clinicians can accurately diagnose dementia 90% of the time. Accurate diagnosis is critical. Our RN’s will create a dynamic care plan that changes as your loved one’s needs change. We’ll help your loved one cope better with activities that stimulate their ability to remember, and we’ll carefully monitor everything from medication to daily activities.

As experts in Alzheimer’s and dementia care, you can trust Four Seasons Healthcare to make your loved one’s life—and yours—much easier and more enjoyable!

Learn more about: The Signs of Dementia.

In a Care Facility

We can monitor your loved one while they are in a facility so that you can get a break. We’ll alert you and the medical staff to any changes that may occur. Our professional caregivers are available 24 hours a day to give you the peace of mind that your loved one is not alone.

We provide our services in Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Centers, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities. As always our RN’s will be involved from the start.

Four Seasons Healthcare can help your loved one while they are in a facility and then provide care when they transition back to home. Please contact us today to learn how we can help you.

Who better than an experienced RN to liaise with facility medical professionals to ensure a seamless service. All of our RN’s have worked in skilled facilities so they know the lay of the land. For this service we use only caregivers who are licensed CNAs – the requirement for all caregivers working in skilled facilities.