Choosing in-home care is an increasingly popular option among seniors and their families. In-home care allows seniors to stay comfortably within their own homes while receiving support paramount to their quality of life. Often, families consult a care service to provide professional support tailored to their loved one's needs.
Benefits of In-Home Care for Seniors
In-home care is becoming more popular for the variety of benefits it gives to seniors.
In-Home Care for Injury Recovery
Not all in-home care is implemented solely due to age issues. Using in-home care to aid recovery has been studied and proven to improve senior recovery.
In a hospital setting, seniors are vulnerable to infections and illness that often stem from the hospital itself. When a senior is able to recover at home, the risk of additional complications is greatly eliminated.
Studies have also shown that when seniors receive in-home care during recovery, they recover with less time than at a facility.
Tailored Support Plans
In facilities, the staff strive to meet individual needs, but it is difficult with the number seniors and schedules they have to maintain. In-home care is tailored specifically to meet the individual senior's needs.
All aspects of in-home care are personalized, and you can rest easy knowing your loved one is more than a number. Your in-home care provider will discuss the needs and support your loved one requires. Be sure to go over everything from personal care to assist with errands.
Dependent on the senior’s needs, support can be scheduled for as little as a few hours a week or all-day care. In-home care is incredibly flexible, which benefits seniors that may have changing needs and differing health concerns.
The Comfort of Aging at Home
Staying in their own home as they age is typically the primary concern of seniors. Studies report that an overwhelming 90% of seniors wish to remain at their home as long as possible.
The seniors that report that their home is where they will always continue to live make up another 80%. You can see the massive desire to remain at home, and in-home care allows that.
Seniors are often more at ease in familiar settings where they can maintain a normal life. Being forced to move into a facility or a new home in a senior community can be stressful on both an aging body and mind.
The familiarity of their own home is also a deterrent for preventable health issues. Injury due to slips and falls are less common in known environments that seniors can navigate more easily.
Enhanced Quality of Life
Seniors that have a higher regard for their immediate surroundings are shown to demonstrate a higher quality of life. For many seniors, their ideal environment is their own home. Home care gives seniors an enhanced quality of life in many ways:
Better Health
A home health aid will help your loved one maintain good health by assisting with activities of daily life, or ADLs. They can assist with maintaining hygiene necessary for preventing infection and illness.
Support professionals can assist with some medical needs and ensuring medication is remembered and taken. For many families, this is one of their greatest concerns and support staff help make sure medical therapies are followed.
Greater Independence
Seniors that struggle with daily activities can often accomplish these tasks with in-home support. They can run errands, and attend chosen activities without having to wait for a family member to take them.
The mental and emotional boost that increased independence brings is incomparable. Seniors can continue to stay in their home while getting mobility and task support that allows them to accomplish more things as independently as possible.
This leads to improved confidence, self-esteem, and mental outlook.
Social Contact
Aging individuals often experience depression or anxiety due to feelings of isolation. Having a home care provider visiting regularly adds much needed social interaction into their lives.
Often, working in such close and regular contact develops valuable friendships. The increased contact outside of family members provides an important element to an aging individual's emotional well-being.
Less Financial Burden
Senior care facilities can be notoriously expensive. When you're looking for senior care, price should never be the ultimate deciding factor. Weighing the cost of traditional facilities and home care does, however, make it easier to choose the latter.
While insurance may help pay for either, the lesser starting cost of home care still means less money out of pocket. Because in-home care support is variable based on individual needs, you aren't burdened with set expenses if your loved one doesn't need 24/7 care.
Conclusion
The advantages of choosing in-home care for aging seniors span nearly every aspect of their daily lives. They get an overall boost in quality of life and happiness when allowed to remain at home with assistance.
Your family gets peace of mind knowing your loved one is well cared for and receiving the attention and interaction they deserve. When you choose your home caregiver, make it a group decision. A senior that is able to participate with you in making plans for their care and thus their support staff will have a happier and healthier transition into care.
