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Why Choose At-Home Care Over a Nursing Home?

In a previous blog we talked about how in-home senior care can be a great transition between caring for oneself completely and moving to a nursing home. Once our clients receive our elderly companion care of at-home healthcare, many of them want to continue staying in their home and might be perfectly happy living out their lives there.

Nursing homes certainly have their place in the world, as there comes a time in many senior’s lives when they simply can’t be alone in their homes even when they have someone stopping by on a daily basis. But there are certainly some advantages that at-home care has over moving to a nursing home. Let’s take a look.

They Are Reassured By The Environment

A person’s home is a special place, and being surrounded by the walls and belongings can actually go quite a way keeping their spirits up. Even when someone buys their retirement home, they don’t think of it as being a temporary stop before the retirement home, so they often go all-in with the decorating of it.

Staying in a home can actually help someone live longer, because when some people finally get to a nursing home they simply give up on life. No matter how nice the nursing home is, it’s just one more reminder that they’re old. They might have chosen their house to live out their days, but the nursing home often feels forced on them.

Ratio of Helper to Client?  One-to-One!

When someone signs up for senior companion care or in-home healthcare, they’re our main priority. The client will be receiving all of the attention, whether they’re getting a medical treatment or simply having someone do the dishes. While hospitals and nursing homes can deliver excellent care, someone is always leaving the room to check on someone else. In the case of our senior care, the client and their needs are always taken care of because the helper can concentrate on them and them alone.

It Can Be Better For the Adult Child

Sometimes the adult child of a senior might bring them into their home, and that’s wonderful! Unfortunately, they’re not able to be there at all times because they have to work, so we’re more than happy to come in and provide elder care services. We’ll work the day shift while the senior’s child takes care of them at night. This is the sort of situation that simply couldn’t happen if the senior were in a nursing home.

Seniors Can Keep Their Independence

When a senior moves into a nursing home, they are giving up nearly all of their responsibilities. All of their food is cooked for them, all of their laundry is taken care of, cleaning and dishes are a thing of the past.

While that might be appealing to some seniors, not all of them are ready to give up on their responsibilities completely. Sure, most of them won’t mind not doing the dishes, but they might have been baking their entires lives and can’t imagine not baking bread on a daily basis. Nursing homes certainly aren’t going to allow them that opportunity.

As much as nursing homes offer, they can end up taking away people’s hobbies. If that’s not something a senior can stand, at-home care might be the best option.

Short-Term Stays

There are times when someone simply needs help, most often after a hospital stay. They have no way of performing their own wound care, and a nursing home might be one option to help them with their medical care.

Even if the short-term stay is covered by Medicare, moving into a nursing home can be a big pain even if it’s for a limited amount of time. Instead of going to a nursing home — already a scary idea in the mind of many seniors — any short-term help can be accomplished with at-home care.

The Cost

One of the biggest differences between in-home healthcare and a nursing home is the cost. When it comes to in-home care, the big advantage is that the amount of time one of our helpers or nurses is needed can be varied. If the senior only needs us to help for an hour with medication and bathing, that’s fine. We can also be there only during the work day, as in the scenario we mentioned above. Finally, there’s also the option of 24/7 care for those who are in need of a full-time live-in nurse.

Another reason that nursing homes are more expensive is that they have to provide everything for the patient. They purchase the beds, the lease on the building, the power consumption for a huge building, and all of the emergency medical equipment that can help people with dozens of maladies. That overhead makes the cost skyrocket. In the case of at-home healthcare, the only costs are the cost of the care and any doctor-recommended equipment that is specialized to a specific injury or illness.

Like we’ve said many times before, nursing homes can be great places with lots of caring people. Some people are more than happy to move into one and give up the daily tasks associated with living on their own, while others are more than happy to stay in their own home for as long as possible. If you or a loved one fall into the latter camp, we’d love to hear from you to find out what kind of elder care services we can provide for you.

 

Contact us below to schedule a no-obligation consultation:

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