Independent living, or retirement, communities are housing arrangements designed for older persons who need little or no assistance with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). These are seniors who can live alone, often do not need medical care or nursing staff, and enjoy an active lifestyle with a community of their peers.
Assisted Living communities give seniors their own living space with plenty of room to entertain and do their own activities. However, the older persons there receive additional caregiver support to have access to services such as meal preparation, personal care, cleaning services, emergency call systems, transportation, doing their ADLs, mobility and organized recreational activities.
Memory care communities provide specialized care and services to assist seniors living with cognitive conditions like a type of dementia such as Alzheimer’s. The older persons in this facility may need a higher level of skilled care, medical assistance, and supervision.
A nursing home gives care to seniors who cannot care for themselves. In these skilled nursing facilities, the chronically ill belonging to different age groups is given a higher level of support which they receive round the clock.
Adult day care centers are non-residential facilities that support the health, nutritional, social and daily living needs of seniors in a professionally staffed group setting. Their clients are older persons who can live with significant others but cannot be safely left alone. Adult day care programs provide respite from family caregivers and significant others and focus on offering seniors a chance to socialize with their peers in a safe place. In this facility, they are offered meals, meaningful activities, and general supervision.
If you are interested in caring for older persons, you may begin to feel as to what facility among those mentioned may be best suited for you. But first, you must get to know what is expected of you when you work as a senior living care giver.
It may be good to remember that senior living is all about extending help for older persons to live life to the fullest and to the best of their ability. So a senior living caregiver mainly gives companionship and basic care to older persons, disabled individuals and anyone else needing assistance and care in a community setting.
As mentioned in the first course, a caregiver may work with or without certification. After this course, you will be given a document stating that you were trained as a caregiver/ companion and you can present this at work. But if you would like to be a certified nursing assistant (CNA), you are required to attend another training that is typically 75 to 100hours in duration. To be able to apply for this program, you must:
Caregivers and certified nursing assistants (CNA)may have similar functions but since the CNA acquires more education, they are given additional responsibilities and with that an increase in pay.
A caregiver performs basic health care to clients while a CNA are given increase work functions such as moving bed ridden patients, infection control, administering medications, preparing patients for surgery, cleaning medical equipment’s and taking the vital signs.
A certified nursing assistant (CNA) works most with nurses than any other health care member. The CNA aids nurses in achieving the client’s goal in the care plan.
In senior living communities, they work as a team to give effective client care. They work hand in hand and communicate effectively to deliver safe care to older persons.
Would you like to follow this career path? Sign in for the Care Health Institute CNA program soon.
