There are many things an elder must deal with when living at home – maintaining a healthy and nutritious diet, engaging in social activities and housekeeping. Housekeeping is one of those things that we often forget about when it comes to elder or disabled loved ones living at home, but it’s a crucial part of life. In fact, a clean home can mean the difference between a good mood and feeling stressed, or even having the ability to walk around freely and being more at risk for falls or accidents!

Think back to the last time you gave your home or living space a good cleaning. It enhanced the mood and made you feel better, right? The same thing can be said for your loved one’s home – dust, clutter and a wastebasket full of trash hamper the mood and create a poor living environment. While your loved one might not want to live in such a manner, it’s not always easy – or possible – to get up and clean the house on a regular basis. The amount of energy needed to push a vacuum around the entire house might not be there for your elderly grandmother, or your dad might not have the stamina to get in and wipe down the shower enclosure when needed. Aside from that, you aren’t going to want your frail dad bending over and wiping the bathtub out anyway! Home health care professionals have a range of services that help make your loved one’s life much easier and one way in which that is done is through light housekeeping. Light housekeeping includes:

• Light mopping
• Dusting
• Throwing away expired food
• Taking the trash out

While professional housekeepers are always readily available, your home health care provider can ensure that your loved one’s space is free from obstacles or clutter in between visits. Frequent dusting cuts down on allergies or breathing irritation, while vacuuming and picking up helps cut down on accidents or falls. In addition, it gives your loved one a sense of pride to enjoy clean and tranquil surroundings.

Home health care professionals can do as much or as little as needed to make your loved one comfortable. If mom can dust without issue, but needs help running the vacuum, your home health care provider can customize services based on needs. This offers you peace of mind while giving your elder the sense of independence they crave as they live on their own.