8 Benefits of In Home Health Care for Seniors
In the United States, the average lifespan is 79 years. Getting older can be a difficult thing to face for many people. There comes a point where some people live long enough that they start to physically and mentally decline. At that point, they may not be able to live on their own. What can you do when you or a loved one reaches this point? You start to consider what healthcare services are available. One option that you should consider is in home health care. Why could in-home nursing be the best option for you or your loved one? Here are eight of the biggest benefits.
1. Less Change with In Home Health Care
One of the biggest benefits of in-home nursing is that there is a lot less change that has to take place in somebody’s life. Instead of moving out of a house and going to an assisted living facility, you can have help come directly to your front door.
This can be a great advantage to those who have a routine and want to keep it. This includes the time of day someone prefers to wake up, when they have meals, what they like to eat, and the activities they do around the house. In home health care allows someone to keep doing most of the things that they have done before.
Less change is particularly good for seniors who suffer from Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. Unfortunately, about six million seniors throughout the United States suffer from this.
Those who have dementia tend to have trouble with their memory. As a result, putting someone into a nursing home may make them more confused and more anxious about what is going on around them.
Allowing these people to remain in their home environment can help them maintain some core memories, such as their surroundings. As a result, you can help neutralize some of the effects that this disease has.
2. Personalized Care with In Home Health Care
Another benefit that someone gets with in home health care is that the care is personalized. Because the caretaker only has one person to look after in the home, that caretaker can base their care around that person’s specific needs.
This is especially important when it comes to what meals are served along with what the daily schedule is.
Does the person like their meals at a certain time? Do they have dietary restrictions that limit what they can have with their meals?
This isn’t a problem when a caretaker is only looking after one person. They can cater the meal schedule around what the person wants to eat and when they want to eat the meal.
Another time this can come into play is when other activities in the day are scheduled. Examples can be taking a shower along with physical exercise. The senior will need help with these activities but can schedule them any time they want while the nurse is working.
The bottom line is that if you have home nursing care, everything revolves around the person who lives in that home rather than an entire community.
3. Keeping Pets
When seniors have to move to an assisted living facility or a nursing home, it usually comes with the additional cost of leaving pets behind. That is because pets are not normally allowed to live in these facilities.
That is not a problem for seniors who choose to receive in home health care.
There are over 80 million households in the United States that have a dog or a cat. It is safe to say that some seniors likely have one of these pets living with them.
Pets offer seniors some familiarity, and some of these pets tend to offer them unconditional love. That can be a big deal for someone who feels lonely and does not have any other family members living with them. After enough time, these pets become part of their immediate family.
If you or a loved one currently have a pet in your home, this can be one of the biggest benefits of arranging nursing care within the home.
4. Keeping Your Home
When some people have to relocate to a nursing home or an assisted living facility, the home that they live in also tends to get left behind. That may be because they have children who are all grown up and already have their own lives. Or, they may have no one else to leave this major asset to.
As a result, the senior might end up losing their home, and also the family loses access to the home overall.
This can be even worse depending on how payments for a nursing home are arranged. Was the asset already transferred to a beneficiary? Do you have more than enough money to pay for a nursing home?
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities do not come cheap. Because of this, some houses must be sold to cover these costs, and any money that someone had saved up could be seized to cover these costs. As a result, there could end up being nothing left in the estate to leave behind to family members when all is said and done.
Home nursing care allows people to keep their homes and avoid the process of uprooting their lives. It also allows these same people to hang onto one of their biggest assets.
5. Maintaining Independence
One big reason why some seniors are very resistant to going to a nursing home is because some view it as a place where they are stripped of their freedoms. In some ways, this can be true.
Those places can tell people when to eat, when to take their medication, what they are going to eat, where they are going to sleep, when to do certain activities, and more.
Everything in nursing homes tends to have a rigid schedule that caters to a community rather than a specific person. Remaining at home allows someone to retain some of that independence.
As mentioned above, people with in-home nursing care can still create their own schedules. Plus, they are still a homeowner and someone who lives in the same house as they always have. As a result, they are free to do things around that house and around the neighborhood like they normally would.
6. Maintaining Community
This next point can be important for those who have a close relationship with their neighbors. Getting home healthcare allows a senior to keep the community that they already have.
That means that they do not have to leave friends behind that they may have known for decades. It could also mean that they could keep immediate family members close by in some circumstances.
Let’s say that a senior lived in an HOA community, and one of their grown children had a different house in that same community. Let’s also say that their children came by at least once a week to check on things.
With a nurse coming to the senior’s home, that senior can maintain a close relationship with their children living nearby. That can help keep their spirits high and allow them to live out their days near the people that they care for the most.
7. In Home Health Care Means Staying Together
This next point is directed at those seniors who still have an elderly spouse alive. You two may have reached a point where one of you needs assistance, but the other spouse is not strong enough to provide that full workload.
If that senior had to go to an assisted living facility, they would have to separate from their spouse, and that could devastate both parties.
What if there was a way that you would not have to do that? In-home nursing care is the solution to this problem because someone can come to the home that you live in and handle the daily tasks needed.
As a result, nobody has to move out, and the two spouses can continue to live their long and happy lives together.
8. Peace of Mind
Finally, some seniors could feel great relief that they do not have to change their environment despite needing some assistance. Many seniors fear nursing homes and fear dying in them.
Some people may view being able to live in their own home during their twilight years as a way to go out on their own terms. They can view it as “beating the system” by never having to be moved to a nursing home. This thought could be a peaceful one to some, and it may result in them feeling content with how this situation played out.
Get In Home Health Care
These are some of the biggest benefits that in home health care can provide seniors. A senior can keep their own home and stay close to the ones that they love as a result. For those that have pets, you can actually keep your pets around, too.
It also allows for more minimal change during this transition, as well as more personalized care.
Do you need in-home nursing? Fill out this assessment form today.
