Daily-life support service practice
Daily-life support means helping a person with everyday tasks they find hard: shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, paying bills and keeping appointments. The aim is that they can keep living in their own home.
Steps of a good service visit:
- Ask: greet kindly and ask what the person wants today.
- Plan together: agree on the tasks and the order.
- Do together: let the person do what they can; you do the hard parts.
- Check and record: is the task done safely? Write a short note: what you did, how the person was, anything to tell the family or doctor.
Good manners: knock first, introduce yourself, speak slowly and clearly, ask before touching things, keep private matters private.
Care practice
Care practice means the hands-on skills of looking after someone's body and comfort.
- Wash hands before and after.
- Explain first: tell the person what you will do. Never surprise them.
- Protect privacy: close doors or curtains during personal care.
- Safe posture (body mechanics): stand close, feet apart, bend your knees, keep your back straight, and move with the person on a count of three. Do not lift alone what you cannot lift safely; use a helper or a lifting aid.
- Help to stand and walk: let the person lean on a stable chair, hold at the waist or arm, and walk beside them on their weaker side.
- Comfort: a clean, dry bed and clothes, a position that does not hurt, a drink within reach.
Recreation practice
Recreation is activity done for enjoyment. For older people it fights loneliness, keeps the mind active and the body moving.
- Songs and music: old songs bring back happy memories.
- Light exercise: seated stretches, slow walking, clapping games.
- Games: cards, ludo, word and number games, quizzes.
- Crafts: paper folding, painting, simple sewing or gardening.
Rules for leading recreation: let people choose, make the activity easy enough that everyone can join, keep the group small enough to talk, praise effort, take water breaks and watch for tiredness. Never make anyone feel like a child.
Dignity and independence
The best support protects dignity (self-respect) and independence. Use the idea "own effort plus help makes the task": count what the person can do and add only what is missing. Too little help is unsafe; too much help makes people weaker and sadder.
Try it: role-play a service visit
With a friend, one plays an older person, the other the helper. Do the four steps (ask, plan, do together, check) for "making tea". The older person should do as much as possible. Then swap roles, and write a three-line record.
Key formulas and definitions
- Service = Ask + Plan together + Do together + Check and record
- Help needed = 100% - person's ability
- Safe lifting: knees bent, back straight, close to the person
- Recreation = songs + light exercise + games + crafts
Worked examples
1. A person can do 70% of making a meal alone. How much help is needed?
Help = 100 - 70 = 30%. Prepare things and do the hard parts only.
2. Why bend the knees when helping someone stand?
The strong leg muscles do the work and the back stays straight, so the helper avoids back injury.
3. List two things to write in the service record.
What tasks were done and how the person seemed. Also anything to report, such as a fall or a missed medicine.
4. Suggest a seated recreation activity for people who find walking hard.
A seated singing and clapping circle or a card game. All can join from their chairs.
Common mistakes
- Doing everything for the person, which makes them weaker.
- Lifting with a bent back.
- Not asking the person what they want.
- Treating older people like children in recreation.