Is a Nursing Home right for you or your Parents?
If you or your parents need help doing daily activities or are quite sick, you have a couple of options. Nursing homes (also called skilled nursing facilities) are usually people’s first thought when it comes to long-term care, they tend to be expensive, but offer a lot of professional care and attention from nurses who can provide skilled medical care. Assisted Living facilities are similar to nursing homes but tend to be more affordable because they do not employ certified nurses. At-home care is the final option and can either be the cheapest or the most expensive, depending on the level of care needed.
There are also “in between” choices that are less well-known. Retirement communities offer a middle ground between assisted living facilities and at-home care. Usually, these communities have care options built into their communities and usually have a lot more accommodations than standard housing. Adult Day Care can also be an option for individuals who can receive care at home outside of standard working hours, allowing their loved ones to be cared for 24/7, these centers vary greatly in the level of care they provide, but they tend to offer some level of care, usually non-medical.
For the longest time, a nursing home has been considered the pinnacle of care. You get professional support just outside your door, and that’s on top of a lot of other amenities and social activities designed for people in your age range. But they’re expensive and require a lot of trust from your family. Because of this and a number of other reasons we’ll get into, you might not know what the best option is! In order to best figure it out, we put together a list to help guide you to your decision.
Can the individual afford it?
This is an obvious question, but also a fairly depressing one. Usually through Medicare, you can get 100 days of coverage for a skilled nursing facility. Nursing homes and elder care lawyers also tend to have advice on how to afford care, usually by liquidating you/your family members’ assets. This is obviously not always applicable, necessary, or possible, but it is often the first recommendation.
Things tend to change a lot if the individual has long-term care insurance, like the one offered by SDPEBA. This insurance can cover you if you’ve been in a care facility/receiving care for over 100 days and makes these programs much more affordable. For more on long-term care insurance, click here.
Does the individual need constant care?
If you or your loved one was seriously injured or are recovering from a critical illness such as a stroke, a skilled nursing facility might be your best bet. If the individual in need of care needs therapies (physical therapy, speech pathology, etc), nursing homes usually have professionals come to the facility five days a week! On top of that, they tend to have medical equipment on hand that normally costs a lot of money.
This is all without mentioning the fact that nursing homes have skilled nurses available 24/7. These are people who know your medical history and are trained to take care of people at a moment’s notice. They know how to take blood, run tests, distribute medicine, and whatever else you/your loved one might need.
Are they at risk of falling or having a sudden health episode?
If you or your loved one is at risk of having a serious accident or debilitating health episode at any moment, a nursing home can intervene and offer care much faster. They also have standards in place to prevent certain issues from occurring to begin with.
Does the individual want to go?
This is the big one, and sometimes it causes a lot of trouble. If you’re a caretaker and you think you’re out of your wheelhouse, but your parent doesn’t want to go to a nursing home, what can you do? It’s a really tough decision I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Obviously, you need to try and help them as much as possible and get help for yourself. We suggest you tour nursing facilities and talk with patients/families of patients before you send anyone. You can always ask the individual you’re taking care of to come with you and see it for themselves, they might be interested.
If they do not want to live in a home but you can’t care for them, consider the other options. Adult day care, senior living facilities, etc. Ultimately this is a really hard situation and it’s difficult to know what’s best. You can try to get constant care for them at home, or you can talk with a geriatric social worker who might be able to relate and help them ahead of time.
Ultimately, choosing a nursing home comes down to affordability, necessity, and interest. If those three things are met, then yes, a nursing home could be right for you or your family. Just remember there are more options. It’s always smart to discuss all of these options ahead of time.