Benefits Of Companionship In Senior Caregiving: Interactive Caregiving™ Provides Companionship For Toronto Seniors

Interactive Caregiving  |  September 8, 2015

One of the most difficult parts of growing older is losing long-time friends. Life can get lonely as we age. This is when having a companion can help ease the symptoms of loneliness and allow life to be more enjoyable and satisfying. Comfort Keepers of Canada® at Toronto’s Interactive Caregiving™ program provides seniors with not only companionship to ease the lonely days and nights, but also assists with the tasks of daily living.

Senior Companionship: The Benefits

While Comfort Keepers (the name Comfort Keepers® gives to their caregivers) help with homemaking and personal care, in-home care providers can offer seniors a listening, understanding ear and someone to talk with. And when homemaking and personal care tasks are completed, an in-home care provider can share in a senior’s favorite pastimes. This could be playing a board game, going for a walk, or going to a social organization or church function. For Comfort Keepers, these types of activities are as essential to a senior’s well-being as the homemaking and personal care services.

Study after study shows that active and mentally-stimulated seniors enjoy a better quality of life and physical wellbeing. Transforming daily activities into interactive activities helps keep people strong, improve health and outlook on life, and reduces the risks for injury, depression, and symptoms of dementia.

Interactive Caregiving™: Addressing Seniors’ Needs From Every Angle

A core component of Comfort Keepers’ Interactive Caregiving™ philosophy, are types of activities like going for a walk, playing a board game, or going to a church function help keep seniors citizens stay active and engaged—invigorating their physical, mental and emotional health. And this elevates their overall quality of life.

As much as possible, Comfort Keepers® strives to match seniors with Comfort Keepers who have similar personalities and interests, to help easily forge the bond of companionship and Interactive Caregiving™. As in any relationship, a senior and in-home caregiver need time to get to know one another. Having someone come into his or her home may seem awkward at first to a senior, but the level of comfort increases as each becomes familiar with the other—and the caregiver learns the senior’s routines and preferences.

The Benefits Of Senior Companionship At Home

By nature, in-home care helps foster relationships between caregivers and seniors. Staying in familiar home environments naturally puts seniors at ease. They are surrounded by all of their personal belongings and memories—from family photographs on the walls to the furnishings that reflect their personal tastes, to the hobbies that help define them. All of these serve the caregiver as an icebreaker and quick study to getting to know and understand the unique individual in their care.

And more than likely, a friendship will develop and blossom with the senior and caregiver both looking forward to their time together. Everyone benefits from a good, healthful relationship—the senior, the caregiver, and the senior’s family. When a good relationship is developed, family can relax knowing their loved one is getting beneficial care—at times when they are occupied by work and other obligations—from someone they and their loved one trust.

For additional information on Comfort Keepers of Canada® at Toronto or any other Comfort Keepers of Canada® location please visit our home page or call us at 416-663-2930.

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