Home safety modifications
Home modifications to promote Aging in Place are more important than ever as healthcare shifts away from institutions and into private homes.
Numerous resources about home modifications can be found with a simple internet search. Unfortunately it’s hard to apply those recommendations to a particular home or medical situation.
Home modification mistakes can lead to expensive home renovation mistakes. Mistakes can be avoided by getting specific recommendations provided by an experienced provider. The wonderful thing about a skilled provider is that they are trained to understand the way medical issues, cognition, personality, lifestyle, safety products and the environment interact to create a unique person and home situation.
Home Care Providers
Skilled home care providers bring personalized solutions to individual problems in the actual home environment. Aging in Place is done by modifying the home environment to accommodate loss of function associated with aging. The cost of home modifications is trivial compared to the cost of care in a care facility. The longer an elder stays at home the longer their retirement funds last.
Aging in Place is PRO ACTIVE!
Caregiver Stress
Unfortunately, caregiver stress is a huge factor that leads families to choose relocation of an elder family member to a care facility. Burnout, anxiety and personal issues happen to caregivers with alarming results. Hearing loss, vision loss, aggressive behavior and incontinence are frequently cited as reasons that relocation of a family member to a care facility is the best choice for a family.
Assisted Living versus Nursing Home
Cost is an important factor in deciding about relocation of an elder to a facility. Assisted living facilities, in general, provide care “behind closed doors”. They offer medication reminders, housekeeping, meals, periodic showers, diversional activities and socialization in a group setting.
If an elder is unsafe behind closed doors or requires extensive care they will likely need nursing home care instead of assisted living care. The higher the level of care provided the higher the cost of the care.
The Cost of Care
Assisted living facilities are almost exclusively for private paying customers. Some families, acknowledging that private funds are running out, seek transfer of their loved one from an assisted living to a nursing home.
When private funds run out for a nursing home client, they may become eligible for state supported Medicaid funds to pay for their nursing home bed.
Moving to a Nursing Facility
Staying safe in a familiar location, known as Aging in Place, is what most people want as they age. It’s generally the most economical setting. Care provided in the home setting is personalized. Care in a facility cannot replace years of living in a particular location.
Once a person relocates to a facility everything is new and different. Their cognitive deficits are magnified by the challenge of adjusting to a new setting.
An onslaught of new sights, smells, routines, faces, noises, light and more requires new learning for the person who has been relocated. That is a steep learning curve for someone with medical and cognitive deficits.
Expect a slow and stressful transition period as facility caregivers and new patients become accustomed to each other.
All residents of care facilities benefit from having an advocate to get involved in care decisions to make the transition easier.