Elder Care
Sep 5th, 2008 by Laurie Neumann
Well, moving our way through the alphabet, we come to “E.” I think a great business is working with/for the elderly in some capacity. I am especially partial to this, as my dad has recently passed on. During the last few years of his life, I saw how much his life changed and how hard that was for him. So, I”m all for helping older people to be as comfortable and happy as possible. They needed to be treated as PEOPLE!! And respected people at that.
A couple of suggestions of ways to work with the elderly:
Non-medical Caregiver -This would be someone who helps older people with their daily responsibilities, such as cleaning, shopping, paying the bills, cooking, laundry, errands and taking them to appointments. You may be needed to call them for medicine reminders. You could provide any or all of the above services. If you are driving people around, you will need to carry insurance for them.
Relocation Services for the elderly - When an elderly person needs more assistance and needs to move to an assisted care facility or nursing home, the transition needs to go as smoothly as possible. Many times their kids live in different areas than where the senior lives, so their kids hire someone to do the legwork for them. They need someone who can help with the packing, lining up movers, setting up utilities in the new location, and getting them settled in their new place. This is a big comfort to both the elderly person and their kids, knowing this is all taken care of.
Granted, a lot of this work will not be done at home. However, making phone calls, paying bills, lining things up can be. So, if you are able to be out of the house part of the time and have an endearment toward the elderly, this may be a highly rewarding business for you to start.
Some good resources are at care.com and comfortkeepers.com
Have a great weekend!