Is Hiring a Butler Reserved for the Rich and Famous?

Most of us are not financially capable of hiring a butler, a housekeeper, a gardener, a maid or a chauffeur.  That is not to say that most of us could not use one. 

We are all so busy working and running households that we are constantly under stress to get everything done within the limited amount of time we have at our disposal.   

Cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, running errands, laundry, cutting grass, the list just goes on and on.  We could all use a butler.   Your employer expects you to work longer hours since some of your co-workers were let go.  During the recession, you don't want to be the first one out of the office and the last one in.  Plus, you have so much more work to do these days.  Your employer is not hiring anyone to replace your co-worker who is on maternity leave.   Don't you ever wish you were high earner and could hire someone to take care of all the mundane chores for you?  

Well, now you can thanks to Host & Care.  Http://hostandcare.com is a free social network application and a meeting place for students looking for free accommodations in exchange for care services. 

If you have a spare bedroom in your house that you have been cooling and heating all this time and never really using it, you now have a chance to go green and benefit in the process.  Enjoy the summer or the year and let a student or a graduate do the work for you.  College graduates will have really hard time finding jobs and might need a place to live while looking for work. Even when they find a job they would still need time to save up some money or get out of debt.  Working part-time in exchange for rent free living is a win-win situation for all.  You get your chores done for free and a student gets free accommodation in their desired destination.  Whether you are seeking home care assistance or home care employment host & care is a site for you.  Student volunteers are available to help you out with all your home care needs.

The same principle applies to childcare, elderly care, disabled care, pet care or tutoring.  One on one tutoring dramatically improves kids' performance at school but hiring a tutor is extremely expensive.  On top of that, you need to do driving to and from the lessons.  Having a college or graduate student on the premises takes care of homework battles, tutoring and childcare all in one. 

Hosting a foreign student would give your kid an extra opportunity to learn or improve a foreign language.  Knowledge of foreign languages will give your child a competitive advantage in the flat world we live in today.  At this day and age running a background and reference check is a very small expense and there are numerous companies offering services in that area.   When you take advantage of this opportunity you help yourself, you help another person and you help the world, two people at a time.    

Undoubtedly the best way to spend the senior years is to live at your very own home.  There is no nursing home or assisted living facility that can replace the comfort of your own house. 

If your elderly parent or parents are still staying in their own house, you may be concerned about their safety and their well-being, you don't know if they are taking their medications properly and if they are eating. You have no idea about their diet and how they get the food to the house.  You might need to hire live in care.  Live-in caregiver can help your parents with basic chores, make sure they take their medication, provide them with transportation, cook and even do light housekeeping. If need be, the caregiver can also help them with bathing and dressing. This can be a very expensive proposition.  On average, you have to expect to pay at a minimum $15.00 an hour.  However, chances are, your elderly parent lives in a family home with plenty of room to offer housing to care provider in exchange for care.  Conducting a background and reference check is easy, reliable and inexpensive. 

Host & Care is a community that connects students and travelers looking for free accommodations with families and seniors looking for care. You offer free room and board in exchange for getting live-in personal or home care.  The benefit of this type of exchange is tremendous.  You have no out of pocket expense and save a lot of money while at the same time you get the peace of mind.  If you are looking for options for taking care of your elderly parents, consider at home caregiver services. This enables older people to stay at home and gives caregivers an opportunity to work or study outside of the house. If you have siblings who also take care of mom or dad, you should discuss the possibility of getting a caregiver in to help out with caring for your parents.  Elderly neglect their health care: The effort of arranging transportation to and from the doctor's office, having prescriptions filled and picked up at the pharmacy, and understanding what the doctor tells her and who won't take the time to insure she understands, is enough to make anyone avoid the health care system altogether.  A live-in caregiver would take care of all these steps for you.  Elder caregiver will stay with your senior parent at the doctor's office to hear everything the doctor explains to mom. Although elderly won't admit it, she likely will never remember most of what she is told by the doctors and nurses. If the care provider weren't there with her, you can't explain anything to her and she is left to struggle with the prescription medications and forgotten advice. 

Senior caregiver also works as a confidant and adviser: elderly often won't admit to being hard of hearing, incompetent in buttoning her blouse, or forgetful of many normal daily chores that need to be done. Live-in care giver gently makes it obvious you are there for her anytime 24/7, and are more than happy to talk with her about troublesome issues. Just the promise of this availability is reassuring enough to her self-esteem.  Many times, just knowing that someone is there and available will prevent depression, anxiety, and the feeling of helplessness.

Nutrition issues: Seniors typically give up cooking foods like they used to do. It's a lot easier to pop a microwave dinner into the microwave now and then. Appetite is decreased as a result of less demand from a body that has little activity, less exercise, and less caloric requirements. Often a senior will pick one or two foods they like and only eat those daily. It results in lack of balanced nutrients, vitamins, and required proteins such as certain amino acids.

When mom does not live with you, you really don't know what her nutrition is lacking. A live-in caregiver will make sure that elderly has a bottle of good multivitamins, enough food ready to eat and drink in the fridge, and some red wine to sip on daily to supplement her nutrition.

Safety issues: Elderly tend to fall down as a result of poor depth perception, fading vision, weakened leg muscles, and lack of attention to their surroundings. It's a great help in prevention of falls if you eliminate rugs they can trip over, furniture that becomes unstable with use, moving items to lower shelves where older ladies can easily reach them, give away her shoes with leather soles, install bath and shower bars as well as hand rails at any place she must go up and down steps, make latches on doors easy to open, and remove any items that can fall on her from high up storage spots.  Having student volunteer live in the house with an elderly person will alleviate the danger. 

Money worries: For seniors money is a constant worry. When their bank account gets low, then they start skipping doctor appointments and eat less. Make sure their money is readily available to them while mom is still alert, clear minded, and oriented to time and place.

Hidden trauma problems: Seniors do not want others to think they are deteriorating to a point where they are unable to take care of themselves. They hide the bruises, cuts, and abrasions that occur and others might perceive as incompetence. Pain, stomach aches, bad headaches, arthritis of joints with decreased range of motion, and they'll also keep you from noticing.

The mental side of aging: The most traumatic problem mom's face is the thought that their mind is no longer clear or stable. One of the first symptoms to show up is losing track of recent memory, people's names, and dates. Forgetting to take medications or to take them at proper intervals can be very serious-under-dosing, and bad health problems return-over-dosing, and suffer bad side effects seems somewhat common in elderly folks.

Care provider will organize mom's medicines for her is a great help to her as well as being a smart way to avoid overdosing problems. Or, just checking how she organizes her meds and takes them. Nursing homes are well known for medication errors, missed doses, and patient care neglect. So, when possible, check out these things thoroughly.

Emotional connections: When senior is well established in her residence, way of life, friends she sees daily, fun events she enjoys locally, and has a well established comfort zone, it is unwise to yank her out of there and force her to live with you or near you.

It does is destroy all her relationships, disrupts all her familiar surroundings which have given her mental comfort, and exposes her to all the insecurity she has been trying to avoid at this time in her life.

In the old days extended families lived together and were taking care of the elderly who needed assistance.  Seniors were taken care of by adult children or grandchildren.  Families that did not live under the same roof lived in a short distance from each other within the same village or town.  In addition, our lifespan was much shorter few decades ago.  Situation like this still exists in many developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America.  In the United States elderly live alone and far away from their children and grandchildren.  Even when they live nearby, their family is busy working long hours and taking care of their kids.  Single parent families are busy balancing already demanding schedule.  The cost of nursing homes and extended care facilities is so high that it will eat up lifetime savings in a hurry.  Thankfully, when we need help with our own family or with our extended family, Host & Care caregivers are there to lend a hand.  Our members are unpaid volunteers offering to take care of elderly or disabled simply in exchange for free accommodations. 

Our members fall into various categories. 

We have college students looking to cut down on housing cost and to help a senior in need.  We also have travelers looking for cultural experiences and improving English language.   We also have single parents who are willing to provide home care services with much longer hours in exchange for sharing a home of the senior citizen.  Finally, we have graduates looking to move to a new city or state and planning to spend some time looking for a job.  Saving rent money while they are unemployed allows them to stay out of debt or save all the money they earn. 

 In exchange for free room they provide in home care services on part-time basic.  They can provide non-medical home health services, home support services, and child care. Home health service caregivers are helpful for adults and children who are convalescing, the developmentally challenged, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Services can range from private duty nursing to live-in caregivers to medication supervision. For example, if your spouse has recently had surgery, you may need a caregiver for a few hours each day while you're at work. Similarly, a caregiver can help your mother or father continue to live independently by providing her or him with incontinence assistance, transportation to doctors' appointments, or physical therapy exercises.

Care givers who provide home support services can help in a number of areas. For example, they can help with meal planning and preparation, personal shopping or errands, and even do laundry and light housekeeping. They can also provide companionship for the elderly they're caring for.

Searching for Trustworthy Caregivers

Trusting someone else with caring for a loved one is an enormous responsibility, and the selection process isn't always easy.

Host & Care comes with several ways of communication between members: Audio/Video Group Chat, Audio/Video Messenger, one-to-one private messenger with live audio/video streaming, Audio/Video Recorder, Video Player, Shoutbox and a message box.  You can interact with other members in the safety of our website.  When you find a suitable match you can request a background and reference check from a reputable background check company.  The cost of running a background check is very inexpensive these days.  It gives you a peace of mind and provides you with the security and safety you need.  Some background check companies even allow you to run a free background check once a year. 

Instant Background Checks includes criminal background check, property value, lawsuits, judgments, bankruptcy, liens and much more!