A Nursing Home or a Relative’s Home? Time never stops. Minutes tick by on clocks, as every living thing ages. Eventually, those minutes add up to years, and, sometimes, in the blink of an eye, year by year, a person is suddenly much older. Time takes its toll and leaves a person wisened, and wrinkled. The time comes when it must be decided who will care after this person. When choosing a method to care for the elderly, there are both negative, and positive aspects to each option that should be considered before arriving at a decision. Will one care for the older relative at home, or will one place them into an institution where one is not sure of the care they will receive? One option is to have a family member, or family members, care after …show more content…
the elder. Positive aspects to this option include not having to pay for a nursing home or alternative plan, the family members will likely spend more time together, and keeping knowledge of any any possible illness within the family. Depending on the state of the elder, they may or may not be able to help care after children, or the house, and may teach family members how to do certain things. The negative aspects include that the caretaker may have to work their schedule around caring for the older relative, that the caring for the elder may be too taxing on the family, or that no one in the family can afford to care for the elder, either financially or because they have to work. Though, if the decision of whether or not to care for the elder at one’s home is largely influenced by costs, this option is likely more affordable. Another factor that may lead to a family member opting to care for their older relative themselves is cultural influence, which in some cases dictates that the younger generations care after the older generations, which may be the factor to tip one’s indecisiveness towards caring after the elder themselves. An alternative option is to hire a person, or group, to care after the elder.
There are varying degrees of care that can be bought, ranging from assistance with household tasks, to constant supervision, and care in a nursing home. The various options include home health care, which includes home health aides, and homemaker services, adult day cares, assisted living facilities, and nursing home care. Homemaker services allow the person to remain in their home by helping with tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and running errands. When more extensive help is needed than can be offered by family members, homemaker services may be considered. Adult day cares may offer a break to the caregivers by providing care and supervision to adults who do not need care twenty-four hours a day. An assisted living facility provides personal care by assisting the person with any daily living tasks necessary. It is not an alternative to a nursing home, but rather, an intermediate step for long-term care. Nursing home facilities provide for those who need a higher level of assistance, and supervision than those placed in an assisted living facility. Residents are offered room, and board, supervision, medications, rehabilitation, therapies, personal care, and skilled nursing twenty-four hours a …show more content…
day. As with having family members care after the elder, there are both positive and negative aspects to choosing to place the elder in an assisted living program of some sort. The positive aspects include that the relative may become friends with others also in the nursing home, because they may have more in common with others of their age as opposed to young children the caretaker may have, the employees are more knowledgeable in regards as to what to do in the case of an emergency, and the elder will not have to rely on the family members to take care of them in their homes. The negative aspects include having to pay, that the person placed into one of the aforementioned programs may feel neglected, abandoned, or separated from their family if they do not see their family often, and the elder may grow to resent the family members for being placed into a nursing home or assisted living program. Another negative aspect varies on the specific program, or company, chosen. In some cases, the elderly are not cared for as well as in others. One of the most negative aspects, which may cause the relatives to care for the elder themselves, is the price.
According to the Social Security Administration’s 2013 average wage index, the average wage of that year was $44,888.16. According to a John Hancock National Study, the average annual costs for different programs in 2013 are as follows: a home health aide program: $29,640, adult day care: $18,460, assisted living facilities: $41,125,a private room in a nursing home program: $94,170, a semi-private room in a nursing home: $82,855. As can be seen, even the most economic program, an adult day care, which would still rely on a family member caring after the elder when the person is not in the adult day care, is nearly half of the average wage. An option to help reduce how much is being paid for one of the programs, is to have a long-term care insurance. According to an article from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the average costs of long-term care insurance in 2012 was as follows: a single person, age fifty-five, $2,007 per year, a couple, age fifty-five, $2,466 per year, and a couple, age sixty, $3,381 per year. Even this option, which will assist in reducing the cost of an assisted living program can be somewhat costly, depending on the income of those who are paying for it. If it is not a high income, money for the insurance may be taking money away from other essential needs. Everything, even if the cost appears to be minimal, adds up, and
must be payed by someone. When searching for a long-term care program, one should consider all the positive and negative aspects of each option before coming to a decision, so as to make an informed decision. In taking the time to look for information on one’s options, one may come to a better decision on what program, or option, would be best for one’s individual needs, that will work with what one is able to provide, such as time, or the hefty sum of money for a paid program.
Houde, S., & Melillo, K. (2009). Caring for an aging population. Journal Of Gerontological Nursing, 35(12), 9-13. doi:10.3928/00989134-20091103-04
The similarity between a nursing home and an assisted living is that, both of them provide some level of medical care and accommodation to the residents. But the difference is in the type of care provided and the type of patients admitted. The patients admitted in a nursing home or an assisted living are called residents. The residents of a nursing home might require some assistance or complete care for the activities of their daily living; they might be alert or totally confused. These activities include, but are not limited to brushing their teeth, combing their hair, showers, changing clothes, and feeding the residents. In a
Elderly Culture and Nursing Homes Nursing homes offer a wide range of long-term care assistance for older adults to be able to meet their everyday needs. Older adults from different cultural backgrounds experience conflict with their decision to participate in a nursing home, catalyzing the underlying stigma different cultures hold towards nursing homes. In many cultures, older adults look for family as their primary source of care. However, when their needs cannot be met due to disability and mental health issues, it begins to take a toll on the person’s instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). IADLs are complex daily actions that are needed to live (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015).
Roberto, K. A., & Jarrott, S. E. (2008, January). Family Caregivers of Older Adults: A Life Span Perspective. Family Relations , 100-111.
Life seems to get busier and more hectic as each generation passes. As generations continue to age, a common dilemma arises that must be resolved: whether or not to put their aging loved ones into a nursing home. Nursing homes have become excessively more popular as the elderly continue to have longer life expectancies. Nursing homes at first were only for those who were poor and had no family to care for them, but now has become an option for families who simply cannot sacrifice the time and effort to care for their elderly loved ones. Morality and ethics is a huge factor in the difficult decision, which many moral factors are considered. In order to analyze how to effectively decide whether or not to put an elder in a nursing home, two theories
Having a group of senior citizens following you around for dinner most likely doesn’t sound like a fun night. However, working at a nursing home doesn’t feel like an actual job at all; I actually enjoy spending my nights at the Grand Residence. Not only has this job given me responsibility, but I also have built relationships with many residents. While spending my evenings at a nursing home throughout my high school career, I have come to the realization that I am comfortable and genuinely happy with pursuing a career in patient care in the foreseeable future.
If an older individual is not given the proper care in an assisted living home, it will damage the well being of the individual. “Resident independence with ADLs
"Who does a son turn to, when his 78 year-old mother, newly admitted to a nursing home’s rehab unit, is experiencing delusions and screams through the night? Or where does a daughter turn to for help when she notices a rapid decline in her mother’s health and her mother refuses to seek medical care? Or the gentleman who believes it is time to a continuing care retirement community, but has no one to advise him on the myriad of financial and lifestyle implications of such a move? (Lederman, 2012)." Within in the field of home health care, ecological system creates an outline for defining what it means to provide quality care to the elderly.
Most of them do not have any other income other than their social security, and that money goes to helping them keep a roof over their heads. It is said that, “lower income adults become economically insecure older adults who do not have the resources to pay for a decent quality of life in their remaining years”(William, Wallace, 2016). If living expenses are added to their health care plans, they could move into a senior citizen affordable housing community and use their Medicare to reduce the expenses so they will have money to do other objectives. The senior citizens would have more to work with when it comes to their already reduced
As you can imagine, the financial cost and responsibility of caring for an aging parent are not the only demands family members must face. Most of the concerns and hardships these caregivers deal with are ways to address the needs of their parents while making sure they still provide them with the necessities. Eldercare creates a complex situation in which traditional roles of parent/child relationships are revealed. You may already be in that position or soon looking at it of being part of the 'sandwich generation', providing support for your own children as well that of your parents. Physically as well as financially.
There are many services provided for patients through in the medical field, but the ones I will be focusing on in this piece of writing are assisted living facilities. Assisted living facilities are care placement facilities for disabled or elderly people that provides nursing care, housekeeping, and cooks meals as needed for the patients. Specifically, assisted living in not designed for people who need constant professional nursing care, they provide services and health care to meet needs of individuals that need assistance in completing daily tasks.
When the elderly are no longer able to care for themselves loved ones often take the burden of caring for them. Most children of the loved ones have jobs and lives of there own, so it’s hard for them to provide care for there loved ones. Where nursing homes can provide 24-7 to the loved ones. Nursing homes provide emergency medical staff on site for
Old age homes provides the much needed comfort, solace and companionship of age- mates and the freedom to pursue their own
Limited mobility is a factor that creates a situation where people once social butterflies become home bound, creating a need for increased care (Berger, 2014). As age increases, more support may be needed creating a situation where a nurse would need to support my aunt in the care for my grandmother. Respite care and/or some form of assisted living may be on the horizon; however, as of right now my grandmother is in her home where she wants to be with the ability to stay for the unforseen
Before a home care facility accepts a client, they will first conduct a comprehensive interview with the prospective patient and his or her family. In this interview the client's medical condition and home care needs are assessed. The clients are also advised by the home care facility of services they would benefit from. Examples of these services would be: nursing care, evaluation and decision of problem areas, action recommendations, and review of the patient's medications, and consultations with physicians as well as specialists, and collaboration with other health