As the years pass us by and times change, so do the ones you love. And, at times, there are tough decisions that go hand-in-hand with caring for your loved one.
In Home Care
As your loved ones enter into a stage of life where they may not be able to physically or emotionally handle themselves and their needs anymore, it falls on the friends and family to do what’s best for the person in question. There are facilities they can move to, but many people think it would be much nicer for them to be able to stay at home.
And there are services that can support you in making this a possibility. For example, according to Jewish Family Home Care, which offers Jewish home care services to all faiths, “Our in home care acts as a “support system” to complement the time and energy you may not be able to give your loved one due to the other responsibilities you must attend to.”
Here are some tips for deciding if home care is the right solution for your loved one.
1. What Are Your Loved One’s Needs?
Are the needs of your loved one physical or mental? Are they having problems remembering things or knowing what’s safe to do or not? Or are they newly physically disabled? To know what kind of carer you’ll need to hire or become, you’ll need to know the extent of what is required to keep your loved one living a good quality of life.
Consider personal care and whether your loved one needs help with that. Or decide if they only need help with health-related things such as sorting pills or taking injections. Whether they need help with their daily living or not can really have an impact on whether in home care is the right solution.
In some cases, comprehensive, full-service, home health care might also be required for the elderly to maintain a healthy and comfortable life. Keep in mind that the needs of your loved one may change over time, so it’s important to regularly reassess and adjust the level of care provided.
2. Know Your Finances
Whether home or away, care — especially full time — is expensive. Different carers will charge different rates. If you’re responsible for paying for the care, make sure you don’t bankrupt yourself by doing so. You need to find an in home care solution that works for both your needs and budget.
If you’ll be the one caring for your loved one, you’ll need to consider if you can afford to leave work or cut down to part-time employment in order to spend your time looking after them.
3. Have Support
Caring for a loved one is mentally exhausting at times. Nobody should be alone in doing it. A good support system to help you cope with the struggles is essential. Even better is to have others who can take over if you need a break or have a personal emergency you need to deal with. Your loved one shouldn’t be left alone, so neither should you.
4. Think Ahead
Perhaps home care is the right solution for your loved one now. You may have made your decision or are close to doing so. But is your situation going to stay the same forever? Unfortunately, that’s doubtful. Many disabling conditions worsen over time making things harder on both you and your loved one. Sometimes the home care you’ve put in place isn’t going to be enough in the long run if you don’t think ahead and prepare for any possible difficulties that may come to pass.
5. Think About Accessibility
Accessibility is essential for anyone’s daily living, but not everyone’s home is set up to be accessible for all the things that have just started happening or are yet to come. Going back to finances, making a home fully accessible for someone with a physical limitation can cost a lot of money. Not only that, but if you or your loved one don’t own the home, you may not even be allowed to modify it. To be able to properly deliver at-home care, you may have to move somewhere that is right for the situation.
6. Find Appropriate Transport
Those who opt to have their care at home will often need to go out for doctor’s appointments if home visits are unavailable. Or perhaps you or your loved one just don’t like the idea of being stuck inside all day and would like to get out to do some grocery shopping or spend some time in open air.