Yes. Home care in Hammond can help with your situation if an elder is eating less. This is because caring for their meals may have taken a toll on them. Care Pros can help with meal preparation and other tasks related to meals. But if you have any concerns with your elder’s appetite and/or weight loss, you should contact your health care professional.
It could also be the case that your elder has not lost interest in food. It could be that they don’t have the energy to go through all the steps that are required to enjoy a meal.
Preparing a lunch may feel like it takes too much effort and so the elder may resort to eating snacks or other convenience foods. Home care services can lessen the effort required to prepare meals in a household.
What are the Limits on Meal Support?
Home care services can help with meal prep in various ways, and it doesn’t always mean that a care worker has to be the one doing all the cooking. It can help the elder clean up the kitchen, or decide on and prep the ingredients for the meal.
Home care services shouldn’t mean that your elder is no longer able to make their own choices about meal prep. A home care worker can assist your elder in prep meal ingredients, but the elder should still be the one to ultimately make the decisions.
The Care Plan outlines each person’s unique situation, and in some cases, this may mean helping to prepare a meal, or helping to get a meal ready, or helping to understand what the older adult is doing.
We provide companion care services whereby one of our staff can assist the older adult with a range of activities and help them perform day to day activities.
The main challenge for many people can be getting over the hurdle of the kitchen.
People can lose motivation to cook because of the work needed to put away the food and because of the dishes that still need to be cleaned.
A Care Plan can address some of these barriers by allowing staff to perform routine kitchen tasks to help reset the kitchen for the next meal.
I prefer to look at the overall process to get food to the table, rather than focusing on cooking.
The main issue should be looking at the barriers that have stopped the older adult from getting food to the table. For example, maybe the older adult has been skipping meals, or perhaps they find it hard to go food shopping.
The Care Plan should provide instructions on how to deal with these barriers. A staff member should not make a medical diet.
The Care Plan outlines aspects of an individual’s routine. For your parent, this could be, “scrambled eggs for breakfast and soup for lunch.” If there are diet orders from a member of the health care team, these can also be found in the Care Plan to guide the team.
These questions should be asked by a health care team member:
“Has there been a change in your appetite?”
“Is your recent weight loss significant?”
“Should there be restriction of certain foods?”
“Is there a medical condition that requires a special diet?”
Home health care can help provide support to implement the client’s meal plan. Home health care does not provide medical nutrition therapy.
I do not think it is helpful to consider mealtime as an opportunity to decide what the client “should” or “should not” eat.
In most cases, preferences of older adults should be respected. If a health care worker believes a client’s preferences are contrary to a recommended plan of care, they should explain and seek clarification from the health care team.
How do Kitchen/Grocery tasks impact your visit?
Often times, the biggest barrier to cooking a meal is not physically starting to cook.
A client may not have the means to cook a meal because the house is empty. The client may want to eat a particular meal but is too overwhelmed to perform all the tasks involved in obtaining the ingredients.
You will assist in grocery shopping and with other related tasks. You will also help in the short-term meal preparation process and will put things in order in the kitchen once the plan is carried out.
We are not planning to reinvent a household system. However, if a new household system is required, that will be developed by the household members concerned and with your assistance.
If your routine includes a certain way of putting groceries away, or a particular manner of keeping pans and leftovers, then that should be your starting point. Support should be geared toward taking over the less desirable, tedious parts of a routine.
There should not be any big changes in your routine. If there is a need to change your routine to put less strain on you, then that should be the aim.
Your visit should include helping with the following:
- Checking the ingredients needed for the meal.
- Preparing the meal (following the care plan).
- Eating the meal with the client (if desired).
- Putting the meal away (or putting it in the refrigerator).
- Cleaning up the kitchen (after the meal).
If the procedure sounds long, then it should be understood that the aim is to reduce the effort required in carrying out the plan.
Familiarize yourself with the distinctions of practical barriers and health concerns.
For example, an individual may have no trouble requesting food, but has no motivation to prepare meals because of the perceived effort in cleaning up the kitchen. In this case, home care may alleviate this barrier by providing meal preparation services.
In contrast, a person may demonstrate no interest in eating and has a change in eating behavior from the norm. It may be indicative of a number of health concerns. Home care services can not make conclusions to these cases.
Home care services assist in performing the activities of daily living (i.e. bathe, eat, transfer to bed, etc.) as stated in the Care Plan, and report concerns to the appropriate individuals.
Home care services can not replace medical care and services.
Home care services may alleviate some of the barriers to assist an individual to perform activities of daily living.
Frequently Asked Questions about Home Care and Meals in Hammond
My parent can still cook, but does not want to do the whole process. Can home care still help?
Yes. Home care can help if the individual is still able to do some steps in the process of cooking. It can be going to the grocery, preparing the ingredients, or even doing the cleanup. The Home Care Plan can be made to suit the individual's needs.
Can Home Care help and recommend the right food for my parent's medical condition?
No. It is not part of the Home Care service to determine medical conditions and recommend food based on that. Home Care employees cannot be Nutritionists. The family can always consult their medical doctor or nutritionist to help in these cases. Home Care employees can help and assist in implementing the food-related recommendations that are part of the Home Care Plan.
Can Home Care help my parent with grocery shopping?
Yes. Grocery shopping assistance can be added to the Home Care Plan.
Are there restrictions on the types of meals Home Care can provide?
Home Care can assist in providing the types of meals that individual prefer and are restricted to, if any. Home Care can assist in making the meals and transporting the meals.
Does Home Care Address Unexplained Appetite or Weight Loss?
No. Home care can only assist with shopping, preparing, and cleaning up after meals due to limitations with the reason for the appetite or weight loss. Changes in appetite or weight can be reported to the doctor or other healthcare professional.
What determines if Meal Support Should be Included in the Care Plan?
Find out where the problem is occurring. It may be shopping, cooking, or cleaning. It may be that the person is too tired to cook a meal. Does the person need to eat meals with others? This can help the family member or friend identify the type of assistance the person needs.
If an older adult living in Hammond, LA, is losing appetite and weight because preparing meals increases her fatigue, figure out ways to lessen her fatigue first and foremost. Preparation of shopping, meal, and cleanup-related activities can be lessened by a Home Care Professional. Changes in appetite and weight loss should be reported to the healthcare professional. The Home Instead team serving Hammond is able to assist with incorporating meal-related activities in the Care Plan.
About the Author
Matt Cohn has spent more than 25 years helping older adults and their families find the right support to remain safe and comfortable at home. He owns Home Instead locations serving Hammond and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, along with locations in Georgia.
