Friendship is one of the most vital and valuable things for any age group. Friends are the main companion in the life of any human being. Especially when it comes to older adults, companionship becomes a vital element of happiness and care in their life. However, over time, elderly people feel more complexities to remain connected with others.

At such a stage, to provide care, happiness, and help for elderly people, elderly companions are required throughout the world. The demand for this job is increasing rapidly over the years. However, it can be full of challenges yet a rewarding job that you may be searching for.

But before you start your journey of becoming an elderly companion, you need to know the crucial things discussed in this blog.

What is Companion Care for the Elderly?

Companion care is not all about casual visits and spending time with the patients and clients. Instead, it is a job that requires responsible behavior, adequate knowledge, and specific skillsets—for instance, being a companion of elderly people, you need to assist them with their daily tasks, such as feeding, bathing, or even brushing teeth.

Therefore, it won’t be wrong to say that you need to be their personal caretaker, who focuses on providing the elderly with firm friendship and emotional support. This might seem to be a challenging task for most people, but practically it is one of the most wonderful jobs that require no specific degree.

If you are someone who loves to interact with people, try to provide emotional support, and help others in their daily life, then you can be the perfect fit for the job. However, it is important for you to know what are the basic elderly companion services, and how to boost your career in the elderly caregiving industry. So let’s explore further.

1.   Know The Requirements

It is a fact that no college degree is necessary to start your career in the elderly caregiving industry. However, most companies want a higher school diploma from you to start your career. Even if you want to move forward, then bachelor’s and master’s degrees are a plus point.

Despite the degree and diploma, you will require CPR certification to start your career. Moreover, many companies require their staff members to participate in the training programs. At the same time, many companies provide on-job training for their employees.

In both cases, you get the opportunity to learn and update yourself with the most advanced skills that help you to accomplish your career goals.

2.   Characteristics of Professional Elderly Companion

You always require a number of professional characteristics to become an excellent elderly companion. These characteristics aren’t rocket science but require time and effort to adopt them completely. You need to understand your own importance as a professional elderly companion and need to stick to your responsibilities to accelerate your career.

In general, the professional elderly companion is all about making life easy for the elders and seniors. To help them in their daily personal activities and let them feel the care and happiness. It is not a practical job, but a responsibility of caring and providing emotional support to your clients effectively. The key characteristics that you need are as follows.

• Patience- One of the key traits of a professional caregiver is patience. You need to know that there will be a delay, or your client feels hesitant at starting. Even the elderly people do have mood swings that you need to cater to with patience.

• Compassion- It is vital to have compassion for your client to know what he or she is feeling. Compassion enables you to get an understanding of the person’s pain and sorrow.
• Attentiveness- Being attentive is a must for a professional caregiver to observe and respond to the changes taking place.
• Trustworthiness- You never need to breach the trust of the clients and ensure that their belongings never get misplaced due to your irresponsible behavior.

3.   Services You Need to Provide to Your Client

Being a companion to elderly people doesn’t mean that you need to sit and talk or assist them in few physical activities. Also, there are physical tasks that you need to perform to ensure that they feel convenient with your presence. So, what are the services or tasks that you need to provide to your clients? Let’s know below.

• Transportation Service: The professional caregiver must need to be qualified enough to drive clients or patients to doctor’s appointments.
• Assisting in Housekeeping & Laundering: You need to provide light housekeeping and laundering services so that clients can feel comfortable in doing the household task.
• Assisting in Shopping & Preparing Meal: It is common that older people find it challenging to prepare or buy healthy foods. Therefore, you need to provide assistance in shopping and preparing meals.
• Exercise Reminder & Medication: Medication and exercise reminders is the utmost responsibility of a caregiver. You need to provide the right medicine at the right time to ensure that your patient remains healthy and good.