When a senior is diagnosed with cancer, treatment is only part of the battle. After completing treatment, patients and families must focus on recovering and regaining their strength—a process that can sometimes be difficult and confusing. Ancillary services can help seniors get back on their feet in no time.
What is Ancillary Support?
Ancillary services are the extra care and support that help seniors live independently. Often, these services come at an additional cost and may be necessary if a senior needs help with daily activities or has advanced health challenges.
These types of services also allow seniors to focus on what’s important: getting better. They can include transportation, light housekeeping, meal preparation, and more.
6 Ancillary Services Examples:
Ancillary support can come in many forms. Common examples include:
1: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
Home health and personal care aides are uniquely positioned as ancillary support. They are often tasked with providing care to patients who are unable to perform such tasks independently.
These services can range from simple things like bathing and dressing to more complex tasks like administering medication. In addition to assisting patients with daily needs, home health and personal care aides are also responsible for helping them maintain their independence in the home environment. If their clients need help cooking dinner or cleaning the house, they will be there to lend a helping hand.
Home health and personal care aides can also do the most crucial thing: spend time with their clients. Especially for those who live alone, this is incredibly important because it allows them to feel like they have someone around who cares about them, even if it’s only for a few hours each week!
2: Adult Daycare and Respite Care
Adult daycare and respite care are forms of ancillary support that provide a safe place for patients and their caregivers to go when they need relief from the stressors and responsibilities of daily life. Adult daycare provides a fun, relaxed environment for patients to interact with other adults, and they can enjoy activities such as card games, crafts, or watching TV. Adult daycare also provides patients opportunities to participate in hobbies or sports that they may not be able to do.
Respite care to gives regular caregivers a break from their responsibilities to rest or the ability to attend to other needs while knowing that their loved one is taken care of by others who understand their loved ones needs.
3: Therapy Services
Physical and occupational therapy can help improve the quality of life for many senior citizens. Physical therapy is often used to help seniors recover from injuries or illnesses and enhance their physical abilities. Occupational therapy can help improve your loved one’s ability to perform their tasks to live more independently. This can include learning how to make a sandwich, do laundry, get in and out of a car more effectively or teaching them how to use technology to make their daily lives easier.
4: Social Workers
Systems of care can often feel overwhelming and stressful for seniors and their families. From attempting to secure the proper government-sponsored support that they need to advocacy and finding the right services, a social worker can assist with many of these necessities.
A social worker can also help to protect seniors if they are in a situation that is harmful to their health or interrupts their continuum of care. For example, they may be able to assist you with placing a loved one into a skilled nursing facility where they can get the direct care that they need.
5: Dietitians and Nutritionists
Ancillary support can include dietitians and nutritionists, who help provide nutrition to support other treatments and forms of care. They are experts in food and its impact on our health and can help patients with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or other illnesses requiring special diets.
Additionally, a dietician or nutritionist can also offer to counsel family members who want to ensure their loved ones get the proper balance of nutrients from their diet. This can include creating meal plans, recommending specific foods, or reviewing grocery shopping lists and recipes to ensure nutritional quality.
6: Transportation and Meal Delivery Services
When seniors lose their ability to drive or sustain themselves, they can feel isolated and disconnected from the world around them. Ancillary support services like transportation and meal delivery services can help provide access to the outside world when mobility issues may prevent seniors from traveling, running errands, or grocery shopping independently.
Ancillary Services at Shaker Place
We at Shaker Place believe that your loved ones deserve the best care. Our ancillary department works hard to ensure our resident’s daily needs are always met. Ancillary services include managing housekeeping, laundry, community and building maintenance, 24-hour security, and office administration.
Our department representatives work hard to ensure our resident’s daily needs are always met. Our facility also provides physical therapy, nutritious meals, and respite care—so you can rest easy knowing that your loved one is in good hands. If you find your loved one needing additional care, schedule a tour today to learn more about what we offer at Shaker Place Rehabilitation & Nursing Center!