Being a caregiver for someone with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) means daily monitoring of symptoms, avoiding flare-up triggers, adapting daily tasks, managing medications, and more. You may start to feel overwhelmed or out of your depth. In this article, we’ll discuss how home care can help. 

If your care recipient can’t access certain services or you’re looking for ways to improve your home caregiving skills, Trualta can help. If you reside in Iowa, you can access Trualta’s caregiver education, resources, and more to help you build your caregiving skills and community. If you live in another state, you can check if you also have free access to Trualta.

What Is Home Care?

Home care refers to non-medical care services that are provided in your care recipient’s home. They may also be called “caregiving services”. Depending on the type of support you or your care recipient needs, there are different services and providers for home care. Home care may be available from one person hired directly or through home care agencies.

These services are usually paid for by the hour. Some agencies or individuals may offer overnight services, which usually cost a flat rate. The type of service and how much help you need can affect the cost. Home care may be paid for privately, but private insurance or Medicare may cover some costs depending on your care recipient’s needs and the service provided. Some organizations, like Veterans Affairs, may offer financial support options. 

How Does Home Care Iowa Support COPD? 

COPD is a chronic condition that can cause difficulty breathing and can get worse over time. While it may sound obvious to say that breathing affects everything we do, it’s easy to take for granted. Breathing difficulty impacts important daily activities like:

• Bathing
• Meal preparation
• Walking
• Lifting
• Brushing your hair
• Exercising

One of the biggest challenges of living with COPD is preventing and managing COPD flare-ups. It takes an in-depth understanding of the condition to provide quality care and recognize dangerous signs. Here are some examples of how home care can support your care recipient with COPD:

• Helping them stay active. Exercise and activity are crucial for managing COPD symptoms. Home care workers may accompany your care recipient on walks or encourage them to do recommended exercises. 
• Assisting with home organization. They can help your care recipient adapt their living space so that the objects they use often are easy to reach and access. This reduces the effort to do simple tasks, conserving their energy. 
• Helping them avoid flare-up triggers that impact breathing. For example, monitoring weather conditions and avoiding air pollutants.
• Reminding them to take medications so that they’re taken on time. 
• Providing supervision and supporting safety. Having someone there who can recognize dangerous flare-up signs like chest pain and extreme shortness of breath can ensure your care recipient gets the medical attention they need. 
• Assisting with activities of daily living and personal care tasks, like dressing and bathing. 
• Transportation services. If your care recipient is no longer able to drive, a home caregiver may be able to drive them to appointments or other community activities.
• Other homemaking services that can be difficult for your care recipient to do on their own. For example, light housekeeping, laundry, meal preparation and clean up, and errands like grocery shopping. This can give your care recipient an opportunity to rest.
• Respite care. This may allow you to get a break from caregiving responsibilities to focus on self-care or other caregiving tasks.  

What Are The Benefits Of Home Care For COPD?

While there is no cure for COPD, your care recipient can still work with their healthcare team and take steps to prevent their condition from getting worse. People living with chronic conditions like COPD can benefit from specialized support. Home care services support your care recipient to stay in their home and community for longer. Other benefits include: 

• Meeting unique needs. Many caregivers or agencies offer COPD-specific care to provide personalized support. 
• Receiving care in a familiar environment. 
• Reducing social isolation and loneliness. Research shows a link between COPD and social isolation, especially if the person uses supplemental oxygen. Having someone come into the home gives your care recipient an opportunity to spend time with others. 
• Saving travel time to receive care services or get tasks done. This can be especially helpful if your care recipient lives in a rural area or when weather conditions make transportation difficult. 
• Giving you peace of mind. Delegating care tasks can help give you time to focus on other caregiving tasks or provide a much-needed break. 
• Flexibility. Many home care plans can be adjusted if your care recipient’s needs change.

Where Can I Access Medical Care At Home?

Depending on your care recipient’s needs, they may qualify for home health care services. This is medical care for an illness or injury that is delivered in a person’s home by healthcare professionals. They might include:

• Skilled nursing care
• Occupational, physical, or speech-language therapy
• Medical social services
• Home Health Aide care

Your care recipient needs to be assessed by their doctor and meet certain eligibility requirements to qualify to have their home health care services paid for by Medicare. Your care recipient with COPD may also qualify for Medicare coverage to receive services like pulmonary rehabilitation at home. 

Making The Right Choice

When looking for a caregiver with COPD expertise, you may not know where to start. Here are some resources to help you on your journey of finding a home caregiver: 

• The National Alliance for Care At Home Agency Locator 
• The Eldercare Locator website or call 1-800-677-1116
• Iowa Health & Human Services – Caregiver Resources
• Your local Area Agency on Aging
• Talk to a doctor or other member of the healthcare team to direct you to resources
• Faith-based organizations

Remember that seeking support for yourself and your care recipient is the best way to ensure they’re receiving quality care–whether that’s through delegating tasks around the home, accessing respite options, or accessing support with caregiving responsibilities. 

References

1. Ferrante, L. E., & Cohen, A. B. (2023). All the Lonely People: Social Isolation and Loneliness in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 20(12), 1703–1704. https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.202309-833ED
2. https://alwaysbestcare.com/cedar-valley/resources/living-with-chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-copd/ 
3. https://vcchc.com/the-benefits-of-home-care-while-living-with-copd/ 
4. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/COPD-CaregiversToolkit-Managing-the-Home.pdf 
5. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/copd 
6. https://www.considracare.com/copd-home-care/ 
7. https://www.parkinson.org/resources-support/carepartners/outside-help 
8. https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/copd/living-with-copd/physical-activity 
9. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/practitioner-pro/bc-guidelines/copd_flare-up_action_plan.pdf 
10. https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/copd/living-with-copd/daily-activities 
11. https://assistedcares.com/types-of-care/disease-type/copd/ 
12. https://assistedcares.com/types-of-care/caregiver-services/ 
13. https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/pulmonary-rehabilitation-programs 
14. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-caregiving/getting-help-alzheimers-caregiving