As your parents age, it is natural for you to worry about their well-being. Especially when you start understanding that your beloved family members are not able to cope with even the simplest day-to-day activities. Moreover, when people age they usually become feebler and more forgetful. As a result, more vulnerable to different accidents and injuries.
As a loving son or daughter, you may try to take care of everything yourself.Yet, it is not always possible, especially, when you are working full time or your senior relative requires skilled assistance.
Traditionally, the solution to this situation was placing the elder family member to a nursing home, where special senior care is provided. This care may include helping older adults with day to day activities, nutrition or even individual medical care.
However, nursing homes seniors live in are not always the best option for your beloved one. Even with the socialization and personal care benefits they offer, living at home will physically and mentally be preferable for the aged relative. AARP study shows that 95% of senior citizens prefer “aging in place” to nursing and senior homes fully equipped for comfortable senior living. Moreover, according to Clarity, seniors are afraid of moving to nursing homes more than they fear death. It happens because of the institutional feeling and the loss of their freedom.
“Aging in place” is a relatively new term and refers to the possibility for seniors get the special assistance they need and when they need it while staying at home surrounded by things they used to. Psychologically it is known to be the most comfortable type of senior living. As a result of growing popularity of aging in place, home care services became one of most demandable solutions.
Let’s explore the pros and cons of each option so you can make the right decision in your unique situation.
Nursing Homes VS In-Home Senior Care
As we mentioned above seniors would rather prefer to stay at home than going to a nursing facility. It helps to maintain their freedom, but unfortunately, when they age they are not able to perform various tasks on their own. However, in-home elderly care in New York and Nassau County offers different options which are available and usually wholly or partially covered by Medicare:
- Senior care agencies like Open Door Home Care New York offer part or full-time home caregivers who can come to you or your aging parent’s home and provide any level of assistance your loved one’s needs. These include but are not limited to meal preparation, grocery shopping, personal care, necessary home cleaning and much more, ensuring the comfort and well-being of the elderly individual. It is well-known that nursing homes, in-spite of being full of qualified staff, sometimes are not capable of dealing with all elder adults they serve. Open Door Home Care offers more individual approach delivering much-needed assistance and attention.
- Sometimes a family decides to take care of their beloved senior relative on their own. Trusting your close relative or parent to the unknown person is hard. Yet, being a family caregiver is hard as well: you may fall ill, may need a vacation, have highly important things to do or simply may not be able to spend sleepless nights to serve the needs of your loved person. Here comes respite care service provided by the majority senior care agencies in New York and Nassau County. It is evident that such a permanent assistance is not available in nursing homes and other assisted living facilities.
- Professional care is known to be an expensive service. Nursing homes are charging thousands of dollars upfront to cover all their expenses, which include rent, salaries for nurses and other qualified staff, equipment and premises maintenance and many others. If your beloved one has a chronic health condition and requires special attention, you will never be sure that the assistance and treatment they need is provided. Home care service agencies and workers are more focused on custom care and create their programs based on the current conditions of your aged relative. Moreover, in-home care costs can be fully or partially covered by Medicare, Veteran’s aid or other sources.
- Freedom and comfort wouldn’t be available for your senior relative if you decided to go with a nursing home. The majority of nursing homes have strict rules connected with family and friends visits, meals intake, outside walks, amusements and other things retired people enjoy. Of course, the communication with other people of similar age is good, but still, it is limited by the nursing home rules. While hiring a home health aide, who can become a companion or a close friend of your beloved one, is a better option for their daily living. If the person you hired shares similar interests with entrusted individual and loves what she does, your older relative will enjoy spending time with him or her. Moreover, there will be enough time for family and friends, visiting different local facilities for seniors, outdoor activities, gardening or anything else your aged parent loves.
Here at Open Door Home Care, we hope you have no doubts about what to choose for your beloved one. And if you are looking for senior care professionals in New York and Nassau County, just fill out the enrollment form and we will get back to you as soon as possible to make sure that your beloved family member will get the care he or she needs.