Home care is a top choice for seniors because they want to stay in their homes, but sometimes health challenges override their wishes. Families try to provide all the care their aging parents need, but they cannot do everything on their own. Weighing the pros and cons of home care and a senior community helps families make the right choice.
Staying Home or Moving Into a Community
Home care lets the senior stay in their own home and gets ultimate privacy, and a nurse stays with the senior for a shift of up to eight hours. These arrangements work well with people who just need a little help with activities of daily life. If they need someone to stay with them day and night, the cost increases and could get quite expensive.
A senior who moves into assisted living in Placentia, CA gets all the help they need each day and have access to care at night, too. Families pay a monthly fee for the seniors to stay in the community.
How to Balance Care and Life
Adult children hire a nurse to manage their parent’s care during their own work hours, but this leaves them to take care of their parents after work. It’s not that the adult children aren’t capable of providing care or that a home nurse isn’t beneficial.
Comparing the parent’s needs to the services available to them shows the family what arrangement is better. For instance, if the parent has Alzheimer’s disease, being the parent’s caregiver is not wise for adult children. By the end of the disease, the parent will be bedridden and require 24-hour care, and at the end stages, a ventilator is almost a certainty.
Specialized Services for Seniors
Residents that have Alzheimer’s are managed better in a community although at-home care is fine in the beginning. A decline in cognitive function cannot be ignored, and the family must make a plan with their aging parent. Home care and assisted living offer memory care services, and families set up the services at either location. The best interest of the parent must be the reasoning behind the hard decisions.
Safeguarding Seniors Against Wandering
Seniors with dementia are prone to wandering, and if they get out of the family home fast enough, an at-home nurse may not stop them in time. On average, there are hundreds of seniors who wander off and get lost, and as many have seen on the news, so many of these elderly parents aren’t found until it’s too late.
At-home care is safe for people with dementia in the early stages, but once there is significant cognitive decline, the seniors need a secured wing to keep them safe. Assisted living offers safer living spaces for wandering residents, and the staff keeps them within a secured wing.
Balancing the Lives of Family and Caregivers
Independent seniors with mobility issues and temporary disabilities get great services through home care. These parents do not need their kids to step in and take care of them. As their health declines, a home nurse stays with them while their primary caregiver works. The only way these arrangements are successful is if the parents never develop any form of dementia.
Companionship and New Friends
A home nurse offers companionship for a few hours every day, and this keeps them from being lonely. However, new friends in their age group are more beneficial. The parent has someone to spend time with, and they can go see these friends at any time. A community setting is more beneficial when encouraging seniors to socialize more.
Amenities of a Community
The seniors have creature comforts of home at an assisted living community. This could increase an exercise room, meal preparation, transportation, and monthly activities. If the senior needs more profound care than an at-home nurse provides, the family must consider moving them into a community. Communities have a full staff to accommodate the needs of residents with any form of dementia, and they keep the family involved.
Amazing Homes for Seniors
At Crescendo Senior Living, we offer the ultimate experience for seniors with disabilities and health challenges. Our community is encouraging and supportive of all residents, and the staff is kind and courteous. Ready to find a new home for your aging parent? Stop by for a tour of our community.