Home Care in Oakwood When Laundry and Light Housekeeping Become Harder

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Yes, laundry and light housekeeping services are available as part of home care in Oakwood as needed. A Care Pro may assist with laundry, vacuuming and meal preparation as part of their duties. They work to maintain Older Adults’ regular activities to support their independence. Our Gainesville Home Instead office tailors care to the individual and not to a checklist for cleaning services.

What Light Housekeeping Includes

Light housekeeping services mean assistance with the daily duties that help keep a home comfortable and manageable. It is one element of a care visit and should not be considered a replacement for the services of a full cleaning service.

Our home care services can assist with laundry, vacuuming, and meal preparation, as needed. A Care Pro may assist in maintaining organized and frequently used areas as part of their regular activities support.

A good illustration is the everyday challenge of laundry. The more important issue is “What makes laundry a problem?” It’s usually not ‘Can someone wash clothes for me?’

Maybe the laundry basket is heavy and painful to carry. Maybe moving clothes from the washer to the dryer takes too much effort. Maybe doing the washing is easy, but leaving clean, dry clothes in the laundry basket becomes the end of the cleaning effort because folding and putting laundry away takes too much energy.

These details are important because the purpose of home care is to assist with the daily activities of life, while allowing the Older Adult to maintain as much independence as possible.

One way to differentiate the two is to know:

If the issue at hand is supporting an older adult in performing their daily activities, elder care in Oakwood is worth a call.

What Belongs With a Professional Cleaning Service Instead?

There are discrepancies between home care and professional cleaning services.

If what you really need is to hire someone who will clean and scrub entire houses including moving furniture, appliance cleaning, floors, windows, gutters and performing a deep cleaning, then hiring a service is what should be done.

That should never be confused with what Care Pros offer.

Care Pros offer support to the older adult. Laundry may be done as support, but visiting should be done to provide support to the daily needs and routines and help them feel more at ease.

Preparing a meal and washing and vacuuming a heavily used room can help with this support. This is not the same as a deep cleaning of a whole house.

If the household cleaning needs to be done on a large scale, but the older adult only needs simple personal cleaning or routine care, home care probably isn’t the best option.

How Should You Prioritize Household Tasks in Oakwood Home Care?

Focus on the tasks that will create the most positive impact on the daily life of the older adult.

Would not suggest to begin this list by making up a comprehensive plan on how to tackle the thousands of tasks that would be eligible to be cleaned. This list is most helpful when completed by setting priorities on tasks that are most challenging to complete on a week-by-week basis.

For example,

Laundry and bedding. Start here if there is overflowing laundry, piles of clean laundry that aren’t getting put away, etc.

Think about the spaces that are used the most. It may be cleaning the kitchen, (or) the bedroom, and main living area that matters the most, versus cleaning unused rooms.

Link the cleaning of a space to the meals served. Cleaning may be more useful if cooking tasks have become tedious.

Ask what the older adult wants help with. Some may welcome help folding the laundry, while others may want to prepare their own breakfast.

Focus on the present. A Care Plan should reflect the current tasks, and not the assumption that all tasks will be the same.

Good care maintains choices.

Using laundry as an example, older adults may still want to sort, fold, and place laundry where they want it to go, and may want assistance from the Care Pro in transporting the laundry. Other clients may be so limited by the tasks of daily living that they would prefer to let the Care Pro manage all tasks so they have enough energy for everything else.

Needing some assistance does not mean you have to manage the entire task yourself.

The Laundry May Point to Other Changes in the Household

In some cases, laundry is laundry. In other cases, there are several changes happening in the household.

You may notice clothes are no longer getting washed, meals become hard to make, chores become hard to do, and keeping a simple household organized becomes hard to do. One change does not tell you the reason, and a Care Pro does not diagnose medical conditions.

The focus should be on the bigger picture.

If there have been many changes to the way the day is handled each step of the way, it may be helpful to consider other steps and support that makes the entire day easier.

That may mean having assistance with meals, with errands, with companionship, with assistance to and from different places, help with personal care, and beyond, depending on needs and services.

Our Home Instead office in Gainesville serves the area of Oakwood and can help you determine if your needs are more of a household nature or if they are care needs.

I'd suggest including the older adult in the discussions as well. I don't want people to focus on the things that this person cannot do anymore. The goal is to find some challenges and identify the patterns of the week that are most problematic to see where help might be of greatest use.

Frequently Asked Questions About Home Care and Light Housekeeping in Oakwood

Can a Home Instead Care Pro do laundry?

Yes, laundry is considered a light housekeeping task by the Gainesville office. The details of the support offered will need to be discussed when the Care Plan is developed, so that everyone understands what would be most helpful to the older adult.

Will a Care Pro clean the whole house?

Home care should not be treated as a whole-house deep-clean service. Light housekeeping is meant to supplement the older adult’s routine. If your primary concern is deep cleaning the house, you should contact a cleaning service.

Can someone help with both housekeeping and meal preparation?

Yes, both preparation of meals and cleaning of meals are everyday support activities that are considered part of home care. For example, a home care visit could include preparation of a meal, clean up of the work, and laundry. The focus of the Care Plan should be on the highest impact support for their everyday activities.

What if my parent still wants to do some of the chores?

Then that is fine. Home care does not have to be giving complete responsibility for everything. Your parent may need help getting the laundry back to their room, but then they can still fold it. Support can be made around these preferences.

Is doing laundry considered as a medical task?

Not at all. Home Instead does non-medical home care. Light housekeeping, companionship, meal preparation, transportation, personal support, and reminders to take meds are all different from skilled nursing or medical care. If someone needs clinical care, you may need a healthcare or home health provider as well as non-medical home care.

Does my parent needing help with laundry mean they need home care?

Not necessarily. Just needing laundry help does not mean complete home care is needed. Think about their whole routine. If the only issue is laundry, another solution may be better. If other daily activities such as meals, errands or personal routines are also a problem, then a full Care Plan may be needed.

How do I know if moving to home care in Oakwood, is the right choice?

The first thing to compare is what has changed. Then see what the older adult really needs. Then differentiate those needs of care from those of cleaning. If the goal is support of their daily routines while keeping them involved in their own choices, a home care discussion can help determine the best course of action.

If everyday activities are being impeded by laundry and light housekeeping in Oakwood, contact our Gainesville team on what support would be appropriate in what should stay separate. You may also wish to browse our local Home Instead team to see if a Care Plan is worth considering.

About the Author

Matt Cohn has spent more than 25 years helping older adults and their families understand their options for support at home. As an owner of Home Instead locations serving Gainesville and other communities, he focuses on practical care that respects each person’s routines, preferences, dignity, and independence.