You don't have to make the terrible decision to send one of your loved ones to a hospital or nursing home; there is always the home health care option! Just think, you might even be able to save money by having a professional come to your home to take care of someone who has been hurt.

Home health care, in the most basic sense, is where a trained agent will come in and do all of the things that a patient would have needed at the hospital, but in the convenient setting of a home environment, where friends and family can be around as well to help things.

Some of the options for this type of care include things like wound care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and patient and caregiver educational information. People can also deal with IV's, injections, nutrition, and the monitoring of serious conditions that just require a watchful eye, and not scrutiny by high-paid hospital staff.

There are all sorts of agencies that have home health care options. You'll find companies ranging from tiny neighborhood ones to major corporate ones, and the options that you need will be clearly defined when you talk to any of them for the first time. Just don't be scared to ask questions.

The home health care staff will take care of a patients eating and drinking, check on vitals like temperature, breathing, pain levels, amount of sleep they get, heart rate, and blood pressure. In addition, they can take care of things like basic cooking and cleaning, depending on the program you've set up for them.

You'll always be made aware of your plan of care as well. Essentially, this is just a list of every detail of your health and how it relates to an agent. Time frames, equipment use, medication details, things like that. If anything changes in your condition, your plan of care will indicate that, so you can keep a record of how things have progressed over time.

Conditions for the home health care service should be constantly improving as well. Every new day will have something that happens, and each challenge should be approached as a way for them to make the overall service better. Staff should always be polite and well-informed as well, giving everyone in the system a chance to be as happy as possible.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how home health care works, do a little homework to find if there are local places that fit you needs, and you know that you'll be ready to make the right decision if you're ever put in the position to make a call.