Personal care that protects dignity
The person you are helping into the shower once helped you into one. Everything about how this is done matters.
Personal care is the most intimate work in this field and the most easily done badly. The tasks are simple. Doing them without stripping someone of their sense of themselves is not. That is the part we hire for and the part we train hardest.
What is included in personal care at home?
Hands-on help with activities of daily living: bathing and showering, grooming, oral care, dressing, toileting and continence care, transfers and walking assistance, and medication reminders. It is non-medical care, so it does not include wound care, injections, or other skilled nursing tasks. Most plans combine personal care with light housekeeping and meal preparation in the same visit.
What a caregiver actually does.
Bathing, showering, and grooming
Safe, unhurried, and as private as the situation allows. We work at the person's pace, not the clock's.
Dressing
Help with clothing chosen by the person wearing it. Preference is not a detail here, it is most of the point.
Toileting and continence care
Handled matter-of-factly and without commentary. This is where most families feel the most guilt and where good caregiving is most obvious.
Transfers and mobility
Safe movement between bed, chair, bathroom, and vehicle, using proper technique so neither person gets hurt.
Medication reminders
On schedule, with the family notified of refusals or missed doses rather than a quiet note in a log.
Meals and light housekeeping
Cooking to dietary needs, dishes, laundry, and keeping walking paths clear. Care and environment are not separate problems.
Questions about Personal care.
Call (919) 249-1607 if yours is not answered here.
Can we request a caregiver of a specific gender?
Yes, and you should. For bathing and toileting in particular, comfort matters more than availability. Tell us at the assessment and we will staff for it.
What if my mother says she does not need help bathing?
Start with the tasks she will accept and let the relationship do the rest. We often begin with meals, laundry, and company, and personal care becomes possible a few weeks later once the caregiver is a person rather than an intrusion.
Related care
- Companion Care Loneliness is not a soft problem. It shows up in blood pressure, in appetite, and in how fast a mind slips.
- Respite Care You cannot pour from an empty cup, and you have been pouring since March.
- Dementia and Alzheimer's Care A familiar house is the last thing to stop making sense. Keeping someone in it is not sentiment, it is strategy.
Start with a free in-home assessment.
We come to the home, look at the real situation, and give you a written plan. No cost, no obligation, and no pressure to decide on the spot.
Serving Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Apex, Garner, Clayton, Fuquay-Varina, Burlington, Greensboro, and Greenville, North Carolina.