It’s early in the morning and the alarm clock begins ringing you, shaking you from your reverie. You crack your weary eyes open and notice that the alarm has beaten the sun up once again. You’re not scheduled to go into work for another three hours, but you took on elder care for your loved one and you know that she will need help getting out of bed and getting ready for the day.

You groan as you get ready and grumble about having to head over to your mother’s house so early. It’s not fair, you think, being that you’ve been doing this now for a couple of weeks or months. You shouldn’t have to get up so early, but she won’t listen to you; she wants to be up and moving by 7am. You gave in … for now.

During the afternoon, the phone rings and while you’re still struggling to keep your eyes open, you know it’s your mother calling to ask you to pick something up for her for dinner. You ignore the call and let it slip on over to voicemail.

By the time the workday has finally come to an end, you just want to go home, soak in a nice, hot bath and let the worries of the day float away. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

But you pick up the phone to call your mother and remember that she left a message. You listen to it and she’s asking you to stay for dinner and not just stop in for five minutes. You don’t have time for this, you think, and you don’t bother calling her back. You think about telling her that you’re really just going to head home. After all, she can just climb into bed with what’s she wearing and you’ll help her change tomorrow morning.

While you took on the responsibility of elderly home care for your mother, you agreed to be the support system that she needs, not when you want to provide it, but every day that you agreed to.

It’s easy to turn these elder care moments into being about us, the provider, because there are so many responsibilities and things that we have to get done during the day. Yet we need to remember that it’s always about the patient. That could be a loved one like a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, or a stranger, someone we’re paid to care for.

Their needs always need to come first with regard to elder care. You definitely need to take care of yourself, though. Don’t make any mistake about that. If you are unable to provide the right level of care for the elderly patient, then that’s a sign that it’s time to look into home care for the elderly.

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Donna Wrabel, LMSW

Co-Owner at At Your Side Home Care

For most of us, the word "home" evokes warm feelings of comfort, security and well-being. For older adults, home also means holding tight to cherished memories and maintaining self-esteem and independence. When illness, injury or age make life a little more challenging, remaining at home in a comfortable, familiar environment encourages recovery and enhances the quality of life. Home can be defined as a private residence, an independent or assisted living facility or even a short term stay in the hospital, we recognize the additional benefits provided by a personal, professional assistant.

Our Certified Nurse Aides, 24-Hour Live-in Assistants and Home Health Aides are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also provide the security and confidence of 24-hour Telephone Assistance, so fast, reliable help is always available when it's needed. To learn more about our homecare services see our homecare services page.

Different people need different levels of homecare. To meet the requirements of our clients, At Your Side Homecare maintains consistent staffing levels of caring professionals. Homecare service is available for as little as a few hours a week, or as many as 24 hours a day, seven days a week

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