Should You Put Your Parents in Long Term Care Facilities?
Most if not all seniors prefer to stay with their families rather than be put in long term care facilities should they require skilled care someday.
Unfortunately, in-home care has limited offerings and unless one has a well-equipped abode, meaning complete with the necessary medical, monitoring, communications, and security devices, to make it suitable for aging in place, he has to enter an institutional or community-based long term care (LTC) facility.
In-home care services normally involve custodial care or personal care such as assistance with the activities of daily living (ADL) which are eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, continence, and transferring. A home health aide may also assist your elderly mother or father, whose mental condition is stable, administer his medications but it is no longer in their scope of work to perform the duties of skilled nurses such as taking blood pressure, blood tests, and the like.
In-home care can also include homemaker services but this form of LTC is not inclusive in the hourly or daily rate of a home health aide. If your loved one wants his house cleaned, needs someone to cook his meals and do his laundry, you have to inform the home health care agency and they will send somebody who specializes in this line of work.
For as long as your mom or dad does not develop a chronic illness that would require round the clock care and supervision, he can remain in the in-home care setting for as long as he wants. In case his health deteriorates in the future and the need to subject him to treatment and a series of therapies becomes imperative, you and your siblings are advised to conduct a rigorous research on the best nursing homes.
Choose the Best Long Term Care Facilities or Subject Them to Abuse
Nursing home abuse is no longer hearsay, it's a reality and in fact various federal and state agencies are working to eradicate this ongoing problem.
Time and time again you've probably heard stories of elderly folks who have been neglected and abused physically, verbally, and sexually in the hands of the very people who were supposed to provide them with topnotch care and look out for their well-being.
This is the reason majority of baby boomers vehemently refuse the idea of entering a nursing home. If their condition can no longer be managed at home, they would rather be in an assisted living facility. Unfortunately, assisted living facilities do not provide medically necessary care,
To ensure the safety of your loved one, take time to listen or read about what other people have to say about the nursing homes situated in your area. Oftentimes, it's more beneficial to gather information from people whose parents or spouses are currently residing and receiving care in nursing homes because they are capable of supplying you with concrete answers to your questions.
You can also gather data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as it annually inspects and grades nursing homes around the country.
Still, nothing beats spending an entire day or even a week in a nursing home or perhaps similar long term care facilities to experience firsthand the life of elderly folks that dwell here.