Personal Care Services

Personal Care Services

Personal care services are hands-on services that assist a person with critical day-to-day activities that they are

unable to perform on their own. Often referred to as Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) or Instrumental Activities of Daily Life (IADLs), these services will frequently be enough to allow a person to remain in their own home, rather than transfer to assisted living or a nursing home.

Examples of Personal Care Services

Is it difficult for you or a loved one to perform simple daily activities? Would the assistance of another person make these tasks manageable for you, and improve the quality of your life? If you answered “yes” to these questions, Personal Care Services might be what you need.

In the home health care field, the textbook definition of Personal Care Services is, “services that are provided by a Personal Care Worker (PCW) to assist clients with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs).”

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are self-care tasks that people normally do every day. In home health care, ADLs are usually broken down into 6 basic self-care tasks:

Bathing – washing your body to keep good healthy hygiene
Dressing – being able to change clothing to maintain good healthy hygiene
Feeding – being able to make a meal and eat the meal
Transferring – being able to physically move from one place to another while performing activities
Continence – being able to control bowel and bladder function and being able to perform the personal hygiene tasks associated with these activities (this includes caring for a catheter or colostomy bag.)
Toileting – being able to get to and from the toilet, and perform the personal hygiene tasks associated with these activities
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) are self-tasks that people normally do every day that are not necessary for fundamental functioning. Yet, they are tasks that are important for a person to live independently in the community. IADLs are usually broken down into 8 basic tasks:

Housekeeping – being able to perform daily tasks to maintain an acceptable level of cleanliness in one’s home
Telephone & Technology – being able to operate a telephone and use basic technology
Shopping – being able to shop for all basic needs
Food Preparation – being able to plan and prepare meals
Laundry – being able to launder clothing
Transportation – being able to independently use public or private transportation
Medications – being able to responsibility dose and take medications
Finances – being able to independently manage personal finances

If a person is unable to perform ADLs on their own, everyday life can be extremely difficult. Personal Care Services provided by a Personal Care Worker in the home can greatly help that person to remain independent. The Personal Care Worker will come to the home on a regular schedule to assist the client to perform Activities of Daily Living. As a home health care provider, we commonly see remarkable improvement in a client’s quality of life with the help of Personal Care Services. In our local Milwaukee community, there are a number of different resources and organizations that pay for Personal Care Services. Please visit our What is Home Care page on our website to find out more about who pays for Personal Care Services.

Additionally, if you are currently providing assistance with ADLs for a loved one, and you are spending a large amount of time doing this as if it was a job, you may be able to be paid for your time. The person you are caring for typically needs to be receiving WI Medicaid benefits