McCortney Family In-Home Care News
Deciding Where to Get Care for Your Elderly Parents
I typically try not to copy and paste too much from the in-home care articles that I link to on this blog, but I’m just not sure I could write this story much better than they did. (Read the whole thing here) I’ll give you chunks and then my thought with them.
During the past five years, the cost of a private room at a nursing home rose 4.19% annually….Nursing homes rate hikes outpaced that of in-home aide care, which rose 1.32% annually during the same time period…
I know here in Southeastern/South-central Oklahoma, there are typically more nursing home residents than nursing home beds, so this trend doesn’t surprise me. What would surprise me would be if this trend continues over the next twenty years. Baby Boomers, as they become Senior Adults, want more than ever to stay home, so in-home care service (especially good quality in-home caregivers) are going be become much more of a scarce commodity. That’s not saying that nursing home beds will be easy to find, but I do think the two are going to become equal as the Baby Boomers age.
Moving on to the point that I believe to be very important:
But what do you get for your money, and do you need it all?
“Nursing home care is a 24/7 proposition that includes a room, meals, medical care, social work, activities, transportation, and more,” says Larry Minnix, CEO of LeadingAge, an association of not-for-profit providers of aging services. “The total number seems daunting, and it is, but when broken down by the day or hour, costs are similar to what people pay just for sleeping accommodations in a fine hotel.”
However, that number for in-home care is essentially cut in half if two elderly people live in the home, and some people in the field argue many elderly adults don’t need 24-hour care.
“[I]n a nursing home, patients are paying for around-the-clock support whether or not they need it,” says Lesley Chang, a spokesperson for Nurse Next Door Home Care Services. She points out that paying for the hotel-like services is avoided when opting for homecare.
One of my favorite parts of my job is getting to ask the families that I’m talking to, “If I could make your dreams come true, what would that look like?” With family home care there is no one size fits all approach. You can get what you need. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you don’t need someone all night every night, you don’t have to have it. If you only need someone to prepare your meals and do you laundry (about 3 hours worth of work a day), you got it. If you just want someone to come once a week, pick you up, take you to get your hair done, take you to the grocery store, and then help you put the groceries away when you get home, that’s what you get. In-home care service is flexible. In home caregivers work the schedule you want them to work. Your desires set the schedule. In a facility their schedule sets yours.
It is also a great point, that home care doesn’t get significantly more expensive if there are two people living in the home, but the price doubles if you are going to have two senior adults living in a facility. At that point, family home caregivers really do become a great financial option. (Not to mention a better overall option.)
During the past five years, the cost of a private room at a nursing home rose 4.19% annually….Nursing homes rate hikes outpaced that of in-home aide care, which rose 1.32% annually during the same time period…
I know here in Southeastern/South-central Oklahoma, there are typically more nursing home residents than nursing home beds, so this trend doesn’t surprise me. What would surprise me would be if this trend continues over the next twenty years. Baby Boomers, as they become Senior Adults, want more than ever to stay home, so in-home care service (especially good quality in-home caregivers) are going be become much more of a scarce commodity. That’s not saying that nursing home beds will be easy to find, but I do think the two are going to become equal as the Baby Boomers age.
Moving on to the point that I believe to be very important:
But what do you get for your money, and do you need it all?
“Nursing home care is a 24/7 proposition that includes a room, meals, medical care, social work, activities, transportation, and more,” says Larry Minnix, CEO of LeadingAge, an association of not-for-profit providers of aging services. “The total number seems daunting, and it is, but when broken down by the day or hour, costs are similar to what people pay just for sleeping accommodations in a fine hotel.”
However, that number for in-home care is essentially cut in half if two elderly people live in the home, and some people in the field argue many elderly adults don’t need 24-hour care.
“[I]n a nursing home, patients are paying for around-the-clock support whether or not they need it,” says Lesley Chang, a spokesperson for Nurse Next Door Home Care Services. She points out that paying for the hotel-like services is avoided when opting for homecare.
One of my favorite parts of my job is getting to ask the families that I’m talking to, “If I could make your dreams come true, what would that look like?” With family home care there is no one size fits all approach. You can get what you need. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you don’t need someone all night every night, you don’t have to have it. If you only need someone to prepare your meals and do you laundry (about 3 hours worth of work a day), you got it. If you just want someone to come once a week, pick you up, take you to get your hair done, take you to the grocery store, and then help you put the groceries away when you get home, that’s what you get. In-home care service is flexible. In home caregivers work the schedule you want them to work. Your desires set the schedule. In a facility their schedule sets yours.
It is also a great point, that home care doesn’t get significantly more expensive if there are two people living in the home, but the price doubles if you are going to have two senior adults living in a facility. At that point, family home caregivers really do become a great financial option. (Not to mention a better overall option.)
