Companionship Care and Homemaking Services

Is your senior loved one struggling with:

Doing the dishes
Cleaning the house
Driving to social events
Feelings of loneliness and depression

Could your senior loved one benefit from a companion who will:

Read a book aloud
Play a game of cards
Accompany on a walk outside

For seniors living at home alone, Homemaking and Companionship Care offer non-clinical assistance from professionals with a heart to serve.

Companionship Care

Some seniors who live alone at home are in good enough health to manage their physical care needs, such as bathing, grooming, dressing, and taking medication. For these seniors, living alone presents a different risk – loneliness.

Loneliness and social isolation have been linked to higher risks of other health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and even death.

The purpose of companionship care from River Oaks Home Care is to offer company and friendship. The ultimate goal of our companions is to ensure the seniors are benefiting from quality connections and healthy activities.

Adult children want to make sure their aging parents are both physically and mentally well. With families of their own and busy schedules, they often have less time for regular check-ins than they would like, and so children often choose to hire companions to keep an eye on their aging parents and make sure they do not feel alone.

Some of the services offered by companionship care, in addition to the ones already noted above, include:

Letter writing to friends and family
Monitoring the home
Transportation to social events and doctor appointments

Homemaking Services

Think of homemaking as an addition to companionship care. With a homemaker, seniors will receive all the benefits of a companion, but the services extend to include additional aid. Some of the services offered by homemaking, in addition to the ones already noted above, include:

Grocery shopping
Cooking
Baking
Laundry
Taking out the garbage
Light housekeeping
Organization
Respite care

Benefits Of Companionship Care and Homemaking

These services differ slightly in how they function, but are both essential to a senior’s well-being. From taking away loneliness to ensuring proper nutrition, companionship care and homemaking have many benefits for seniors.

For example, if you suspect your loved one isn’t eating well, having a homemaker available to cook nutritious meals can turn around your family member’s health.

Here are just a few of the benefits these services offer:

Mental (cognitive) stimulation
Increased mobility due to transportation services
Increased Socialization
Improvement in health, both physical and mental
Safety supervision

How Companionship and Homemaking Differ from Home Health Aides

Companionship care and homemaking services are separate from typical home health aides.

River Oaks Home Care companion professionals are able to serve, but not to any personal, hands-on care capacity.

For example, companions cannot help patients bathe or take their medications. Instead, they can prepare the bath and remind patients to take their medications.

Hiring companions or homemakers will cost less than hiring a home health aide, who undergoes additional training and usually needs a state license to provide hands-on care. The difference in cost can run $4-5 less per hour. For additional information on budget and payment options, see our Funding Options page.

How River Oaks Home Care Can Help Your Senior Loved One

When you call River Oaks Home Care, we will begin the process of getting to know you, your senior loved, and your unique situation. We will schedule a time for one of our professionals to visit your loved one’s home and provide a free assessment to determine your needs.

We’ll review your budget and discuss all of the available [payment options] for your care, including PA Support Services Waivers, the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit, insurance, and private pay.

To determine the best schedule for companionship care and homemaking visits, we will partner with you and be very flexible to meet your family’s needs. We would love to meet you and answer any questions you may have about how we can support your loved one in the comfort of his or her home!