What Can Home Care Do for an Autistic Family Member?
Adults with autism have specific requirements and needs that family members may not be able to meet for them. If your autistic family member lives on her own, she may find that there are some tasks that are simply too difficult for her to keep up with on her own.
Take Care of Household Tasks
Household tasks can be daunting and difficult to keep up with for your autistic family member. Home care for autism can take care of tasks like laundry, cleaning, or even organizational tasks. They can either handle these tasks outright on their own or they can help your family member to do them.
Help with All Aspects of Meals
Meal planning, obtaining groceries, and then cooking those planned meals is complicated stuff. For a family member with autism, these tasks can be overwhelming. Having someone who can manage these tasks or at least lend a helping hand can make eating a healthy diet so much easier.
Offer Companionship
If your family member lives on her own or if the family members she lives with are often gone, your autistic family member may feel lonely quite often. Building a relationship with home care providers can help your family member to feel less alone, although this may take some time and patience.
Run Errands or Drive for Your Family Member
Errands never seem to end, but home care for autism can help your family member to take care of whatever she needs to do regularly. They can also handle the driving for her so that she gets safely wherever she needs to go. They can be especially helpful to your family member at doctor’s appointments and other times that might get complicated or overwhelming.
Support Her Independence
Ultimately, you want to do whatever you can to help your autistic family member to maintain as much independence as possible. Whatever her living situation, your family member likely wants to do as much as possible on her own. Having the right amount of help can allow her to do just that.
The best thing about having home care providers available to your family member is that they can modify what they’re doing to meet her needs. As her needs change, so too can the assistance they provide. Even with help from you and from other family members, home care for autism can be what makes the difference for your family member.
If you are considering autism resources in Greenfield, IN, please call the caring staff at RSI Cares. Serving Greater Indianapolis Area. Call for Immediate Info & Assistance: 317-471-0750.
As a practicing Registered Nurse, Etelka was keenly aware of a void in quality patient care that could be provided in the home. She embarked upon a journey to develop a home health care agency that would exceed all expectations and become a trusted partner to physicians and patients.
A Distinguished Career From Nurse to Director of Nursing to President of Home Services Unlimited
Etelka’s distinguished career followed a logical progression to her position as President of Home Services Unlimited. She graduated as a nurse practitioner with a Bachelor of Nursing (RN) in 1972 from Meshgorya University in the Ukraine, close to where she lived with her family. She married her husband Phil in 1973 and decided in 1977 that they would relocate to the United States to be closer to family and to come to this land of opportunity. With an eagerness to continue her budding career, Etelka sat for and passed her Boards in the U.S. in 1979.
A Love and Talent for Working with the Elderly
Etelka began her nursing career in the U.S. at Colonial Crest, now part of Golden Living, where shewasthe In-service Coordinator, the Director of Training and Education and Director of Nursing, a position she occupied for several years.
With a group of partners, she co-founded Adept Corporation, which operated group homes for the mentally challenged. The business was successful and in 1996, Etelka sold her share to return to her roots, caring for the elderly.
In January of 1997, Etelka opened Home Services Unlimited as a fully licensed business to provide home health care. In her quest to learn to do better for her patients, she had already obtained a Masters in Healthcare Administration (MHA) in May of 1990 from the College of St. Francis. As President of Home Services Unlimited, Inc., Etelka guides the trusted, experienced care model Home Services Unlimited uses to continue providing excellent home health care.
Giving Back to the Community of Indianapolis
Volunteering for community services is a high priority for Etelka. Her memberships include the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Executive Women in Health Care and the Indiana Association for Home and Hospice Care, where she is a member of the Board of Directors.
Etelka has also served on the Board of Directors with Hooverwood Home, a highly regarded geriatric facility, since 1997 and as the President for 2005-2006. Through her community work, she has received several awards and accolades, including the Nora McFarland award in 2002, from the Indiana Association of Home and Hospice Care.
Etelka was honored as a “Health Care Hero” by the Indianapolis Business Journal. The issue can be read online here:
http://mags.ibj.com/activemagazine/welcome/html/ibjhch.html.
After clicking on the link, then click on the image of the issue’s front page. After that, you can browse through the issue or click in a box near the top of your internet browser to adjust the page to 17, which is where Etelka’s article appears.
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