Getting a care home for your aging parent or another family member can be a daunting decision. Do you go with a care home run by adults, or would you rather live in a more traditional home? The tough choice usually comes down to which one you feel is best for your loved one. While both choices have pros and cons, they are also very different from one another. Here are the facts about each option.
Live in care: A person who lives in an assisted living facility may not receive constant supervision from a staff member. This does not necessarily mean they will be without supervision, however. They will still receive meals, receive therapy, and be checked on by a medical staff member. They will not be left alone, but they may not be alone for too long either. Many people choose to live in a home for seniors because they do not need the constant supervision that they get at a care facility.
Assisted living facility: A nursing home does not give supervision and daily activity checks as a live-in facility does. The elderly loved ones can take their own medications and bathe in their own bathroom, but if the resident gets too much exercise, that could change. Also, if too many people are living in the same house, things can become crowded. Some assisted living facilities actually have one bathroom per floor. In some cases, an elderly family member may need immediate help, so the entire home may need to be cleaned or rearranged before the resident gets home.
Skilled care home: A skilled care home provides twenty-four-hour medical care, but also includes several different activities for the elderly loved ones to participate in. The residents can bathe in the tub, eat in their dining room, watch television, or use the swimming pool. There is no living in the facility, so when the resident does leave the home, they are on their own to find their own transportation. The aide or professional caring for the person needs to be there to monitor their activities and to make sure everyone is doing well. This may be more costly than staying at a live-in facility, but the cost of long-term care is much higher than the price of short-term care.
Assisted living facility: Many times, elderly loved ones will need more intensive assistance in a residential care setting. If the person needs to be checked into an assisted living facility, the family should decide what the costs would be, if they wanted to move in with the person, or what kind of help they wanted to provide. Many times, the aid can arrange for someone to accompany the senior to the assisted living facility, but that extra help may be necessary. When the family makes the difficult decision of placing the elderly loved ones in either type of facility, they must also decide if they can afford it.
Long Term Care homes: It’s also important to consider the costs of long-term care homes as compared to a care home. Many of these homes provide meals, but there may be a cost involved with preparing the meal, whether the meals are prepared by the staff or not. The location of the care home may be more important than its actual services to one’s elderly loved ones. One should take all these considerations into consideration when making the difficult choice of which home would be best for their loved ones.
