4 Must-Read Winter Caregiving Tips

4 Must-Read Winter Caregiving Tips - AmeriBest Home Care

With strong winds, freezing temperatures, and slippery roads, winter can be a dangerous time for the elderly. In fact, winter tends to have more casualties and accidents for elderly than any other season.

Now, this doesn’t mean you should make your senior stay indoors all day to avoid the weather. Because truth be told, that can be just as unhealthy. Rather, you simply need to take the right precautions to keep your senior safe and sound!

Here are 4 easy tips for winter caregiving!

  • Accompany your senior
    The biggest danger for seniors walking in winter weather, is the chance of slipping and falling. Black ice, slush, and even bad rain, can make it hard for seniors to stay upright. Although falling may not sound like a big deal, it can be quite serious for elderly, because their bodies don’t hold up as well against sudden impact.

For this reason, it’s best to always accompany (or have someone else accompany) your senior when going outside during harsh winter weather. Hold your senior by the arm or elbow, so you can catch them if they start to miss a step- especially when crossing the street.

  • Make sure the heating works
    Double check the heating is optimally functioning in the house and car! If you know some rooms are a little draftier than others, you may want to get some additional space heaters. It’s highly recommended to do a quick maintenance check before the winter weather truly hits. This way, if there is any problem with the heating, you can have it fixed before it’s too late.
  • Winter gear is a must
    This is for both outdoors and indoors. Be sure your senior has a good, warm coat, hat, pair of gloves, and scarf. The last thing you need is for your senior to get sick with a cold, or worse. Also, be sure your senior has a pair of warm, sturdy snow boots. A good pair of boots will better prevent your senior from slipping.

Tip: Though it might sound like a lot to spend on just ‘clothes,’ if you spend the extra money on getting good winter gear, you’ll spend a lot less on medical bills later on.

An elderly grandmother with an adult granddaughter at home.

Now, for indoors, winter gear comes in the form of blankets, socks and nonslip slippers. People often forget about winter gear for the indoors. But it is just as important, if not more important. Because chances are your senior spends more time indoors than outdoors. In which case, it’s crucial that your senior has the necessary clothes and whatnot to keep warm and toasty.

  • A little shoveling goes a long way
    Even if your senior isn’t going outside while it’s snowing, he or she might still want to get the mail or newspaper at the end of the driveway. In which case, walking down snowy steps or an icy driveway will be a big danger. Save yourself the worry, and always shovel around the house during bad weather. And, don’t forget to add some salt as an added layer of safety!

Learn to Care for Your Grandparents While Getting Paid

Learn to Care for Your Grandparents While Getting Paid - AmeriBest Home Care

The hardest part about caregiving for family, is having to give up precious time from work.

Because less time at work equals less pay, which can be difficult when you’ve got your own bills to pay and family to take care of.

But what if we told you, it didn’t have to be that way? Nowadays, you can easily keep earning money while still caring for your grandparents. In fact, you can get paid to care for your grandparents!

It’s a total game changer. And here’s how that change can ultimately change your life!

  • No More Financial Stress
    Say goodbye to the financial crunch and worry that comes with having to split all your time between financially supporting yourself and caring for your grandparents. Luckily, getting paid to care for your grandparents, takes the worry out of the situation! Not only does it take out the worry, but it adds in some additional relief.
  • Extra Downtime
    When getting paid to care for your grandparents, you’ll find that you have way more time for other things, and other people. You’ll finally have time to finish that project you started months ago, or catch up with old friends, or maybe even have some much-needed self-pampering nights. Whatever it is you like to do with your time, it’s up to you! Because now you’ll actually have the time to do it.
  • Better Care for Your Grandparents
    With less financial stress and more free time, you’re sure to be less overwhelmed. Which means, that you’ll actually be able to enjoy caring for your grandparents, as opposed to dreading it. And when you enjoy what you do, you tend to do a better job of it. You’ll be able to pay more attention to your grandparents, give them the consideration they deserve, have more patience for their needs, and most importantly, laugh, love, and appreciate every moment you spend with them.
  • A Happier Life
    It’s no magic formula, it’s just simple math. When you don’t have to worry about money, and you have more free time to accomplish your goals, and you can rest assured your grandparents are getting the care they need- you’re going to be happier. You are going to be a happier person, with a happier life.

Middle aged black man bringing roast meat to the table for the Sunday family dinner with his partner, kids and their grandparents, front view

So… Now What?

Make the move to change your life! It’s that easy. There are two main ways you can get paid for caregiving. The first, is to apply for the right financial aid services and receive payments/stipends for you and your grandparents. The second, is to become a licensed caregiver and get paid for the work you do.

Have any questions? Interested in learning more? Give us a call at (215) 925-3313, or 1800-HOMECARE.

At AmeriBest, we’ll help you and your loved one in any way we can! So, learn to get paid for giving care to your grandparents and change your life in the process.

What more could you want?

5 Easy Tips to Help You Care for Aging Parents

5 Easy Tips to Help You Care for Aging Parents - AmeriBest Home Care

After years of them caring for you, it might be time to return the favor and start caring for your aging parents. This includes setting up a comfortable space for them to live, making sure their daily needs are met, making sure their daily wants are satisfied, and keeping them healthy and happy.

While that may sound like a lot to manage, it’s completely doable. Especially, if you create a care plan that takes into account both yours’ and your parents’ needs and limitations.

So, to help you better care for your aging parents here are 5 easy tips!

  • Create a Budget

When caring for aging parents, the first step is creating a budget- one for yourself and one for your parents. Before you can choose the best caregiving option for you and your parents, you’ll need to figure out how much money you can actually afford to spend. The most important question will be: are you paying or are your parents paying? Where will the money be coming from?

Once you’ve calculated a budget for how much you can afford to spend, the next step is to research which caregiving options align best with your budget.

  • Choose a Space

After you’ve got the budget set, you need to answer the next big question: where will you be caring for your aging parents? You can either move your parents into a communal home for the elderly, where they will be monitored and taken care of by staff members. Or, you can keep them at home, where you can watch over them and be sure they get the attention they need. Many parents prefer to stay in the comfort of their own homes, where they feel safe and at ease.

  • Plan for the Future

It’s an uncomfortable topic, but it has to be done. It’s extremely important to talk to your aging parents about what they want for themselves and their future, should something unfortunate happen where they can no longer make decisions later on. So that you don’t find yourself having to make hard choices on their behalf without knowing what they would want, talk to your aging parents now.

Female Community Nurse Visits Senior Couple At Home

  • Know Your Limits

Taking care of aging parents can be physically and emotionally draining sometimes. That’s why, you have to realistically estimate how much time and effort you can put into caring for them, without damaging your own life.

  • Consider Extra Help

If you feel yourself getting worn down, you always have the option to call for some extra help. Look for home care services that offer trained medical attendants and personal care assistants. This way, you get the benefits of having a professional look after your parents, while also keeping your parents comfortably at home.

Plus, having someone else that you can rely on to take care of your parents, can be a real stress reliever when you have medical questions or simply want some time off.

Life Hack: Get Paid for Caregiving

Life Hack: Get Paid for Caregiving - AmeriBest Home Care

We all know job hunting is hard. We all know getting hired is even harder.

That’s why so many people find themselves jobless in a harsh reality. In the past year, unemployment rates in America increased to 3.9%. That’s roughly 6.3 million people in America with no job, and no income.

BUT, we’re here to fix that.

If you like helping others, we’ve got the job for you! At AmeriBest, you can get PAID for caregiving. We pay YOU to take care of others. It’s as simple as that.

Here’s just some of the great things we offer our employees:

Big Opportunities

With plenty of jobs to offer, AmeriBest is always looking to hire. Positions range from registered nurses, to physical therapists, to occupational therapists, to medical social workers, and more. There’s a whole list of great job opportunities to choose from. All you have to do is pick one and we’ll set you up on the road to success!

Don’t be afraid to find your dream job at AmeriBest.

Built-In Training

After choosing your dream job, we won’t just send you out onto the field to deal with the work alone. First, we’ll train you. You don’t need to have any prior medical knowledge- we’ll teach you everything. We’ll teach you all you need to know, so you can rest assured you’ll be ready and right for the job when the time comes.

Female Community Nurse Visits Senior Man At Home

Reliable Benefits

Our employees matter to us, and so does their health. If you’re working with us, we do our best to make sure you’re healthy and happy, always. Which includes giving you dental, vision, life, and medical insurance. With reliable medical benefits, you won’t have to stress about your own health anymore.

After all- you can’t take care of others, if you don’t take care of yourself first.

Excellent Pay

We offer competitive rates for non-competitive hours. We understand that many of you may be coming from homes where you need to be home some of the time. We strive to accommodate individuals from all lifestyles and backgrounds. So, we offer maximum flexibility with our competitive salaries.

AND, we offer holiday and overtime pay, so you’ll always be compensated fairly.
We care about doing what’s right by all our employees.

Great Environment

At AmeriBest, we pride ourselves on fostering a safe and nurturing place for our employees to work. The kind of environment where you comfortably grow at your own pace, and make a meaningful difference in the world.

Feel free to check out our excellent client and employee reviews!

A Better Future

At AmeriBest, we don’t just give you a job for the present. We give you a life for the future. That’s why we set you up a 401k. So, you can already start saving for retirement, now. Not only that, but with our training program, you’ll have a new practical skillset that you can use anytime, anywhere.

With a job at AmeriBest, you’ll be set for life.