HOME, HOSPICE, ASSISTED LIVING, OR SPECIAL CARE UNIT?
Click on the TITLE to go to that website.
AGING IN PLACE
The great majority of older adults say they’d prefer to live out their days in their own home — also known as “aging in place”. The key to success is making it safe and getting the right support before a health crisis or other emergency strikes. In many cases, arranging for outside help – for everything from daily call services, meal delivery, and transportation to part- or full-time hired caregivers — can make it possible for seniors to stay in their homes much longer than they would otherwise be able to do.
BEST SENIOR CARE ONLINE
Search for senior care options in your area, including In Home Care and Senior Housing and Assisted Living.
RIGHT AT HOME
Right at Home understands your concerns when it comes to making big decisions regarding your family. For many people, our in-home senior care is the best solution for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and loving relationships. There’s a good chance we could be right for you, too.
CARING FOR A LOVED ONE IN YOUR OWN HOME
If you decide to move a parent or other relative in with you, you won’t be alone: One out of every four caregivers lives with the elderly or disabled relative he or she cares for. This arrangement can have many positives. If your parent or other family member is still relatively healthy, he may be able to babysit or otherwise help around the house, contribute financially, and get to know your children in a way that would never be possible with only occasional visits.
But it’s not right for everyone. It may be less expensive than putting the person in a nursing home , but you could pay a heavy price in terms of time, stress, fatigue, and strained relations. Take the time to consider the 10 questions on this website when deciding whether to have someone live with you.
LOCAL ELDERCARE DIRECTORY
Find local assisted living facilities, nursing homes, personal home care, continuing care communities, retirement communities, home health agencies, hospice, and adult day care.
ASSISTED LIVING COMMUNITIES
An assisted-living community provides a sense of community for seniors, often with planned activities, housekeeping and laundry, transportation, meals, exercise and wellness programs, opportunities to socialize with other residents, assistance with activities of daily living, and some medical care. Understanding how assisted living works will help your family decide if this is the right choice. To get started, search for assisted living communities near you at this website.
THE BEST NURSING HOMES IN AMERICA
US News & World Report has listed 15,000 of the best nursing homes in America, as well as some of the worst. Also in this article:
- Figuring our whether a nursing home is necessary
- Building a short list of nursing home possibilities
- Sizing up a nursing home when you visit
- Following up: making sure your choice was right
HOSPICE CARE AND ASSISTED LIVING SERVICES FOR CANCER PATIENTS
Hospice is a concept entrenched in the age-old idea of providing shelter, food, and “hospitality” for the ill. To treat cancer patients, hospice care addresses the needs of the physical, psychological, and spiritual self, which results in a more comprehensive healing experience. At the core of the hospice philosophy is a desire to improve a patient’s quality of life by controlling and/or reducing the symptoms of their illness.
Hospice programs extend into a variety of environments: hospitals, designated hospice centers, the home, and other healing facilities. Browse through this website’s directory of hospice programs to learn more about this wonderful approach to cancer treatment.
ASSISTED LIVING SERVICES FOR ALZHEIMER’S PATIENTS
Assisted-living facilities for people with Alzheimer’s disease are often referred to as “Special Care Units (SCUs).“ SCUs are staffed with individuals who are specially trained to work with people who have Alzheimer’s. As such, the environment is designed to be very safe and comfortable, and the activities are designed to benefit the person with Alzheimer’s.
SCUs can differ in the level of care they provide along the continuum of the disease. For instance, some assisted living facilities will accept people with Alzheimer’s until they need skilled care (nursing home care) whereas others will only accept people who are in the early stages of the disease.
Just dropped in to say hello and tell you all what a wonderful group of individuals you are, giving advice to those in need and going through personal issues yourself.
I’m in the process of admitting my Aunt, who’s 90 into the same care centre where my Mom currently resides. It’s not a process I feel comfortable about, but I have no choice but to ensure my Aunt is safe. She has had several mini strokes in the last couple of years, and has been recently deemed incapable of living on her own by her personal doctor & CCAC. In the last 4 months, she isn’t aware of what month or day it is.
I’m sad this is happening to her but I know she’ll be receiving the care she needs & the support she deserves.
It’s so sad to see her give up her independence after 90 years of age. I know how precious this can be.
I love reading all the advice this wonderful website has given to caregivers. Your words of wisdom is heartfelt and informative to those who reach out to you. I’ve learned a great deal, thank you.
Dale D.
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Dale,
I can only imagine how difficult it must be for you to have to make this decision for your Aunt, but then again the medical community has really made it for you.
Rest assured, she will be in the same home as your Mom, and I am hoping that is a good thing!
We take care of each other @ DLH, so feel at home and comfortable. We all have our situations and help each other along the path of acceptance, so please feel welcomed.
~Char
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Hi all,
I have something to share with you. I am just going to change the names per request of the writer. Below is an exerpt from a letter we received, requesting a donation to our local hospice. What a tribute to all that hospice has to offer!!
“My mother-in law, Ellen, was a gracious, intelligent, articulate woman who placed the welfare of others before her own. A wife and mother of four, she had been a registered nurse for over fity years and was a passionate advocate for the care of Hospice patients and their families. She prized hard work and independence above all things.
When she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, she knew she was in for the fight of her life. But IT was in for a fight, too. Parkinson’s Disease had never met the likes of Ellen. And it had never met the likes of Ellen’s daughter and my wife, Joan.
Oh hearing the news, Joan began instantly to collect expert information using every resource available to her, often reading well into the night, probing every single source for any bit of information that might someday be helpful. To understand is to master and within a year Joan had made herself an expert.
When Ellen could no longer care for herself, Joan made caring for her mother her life’s priority, NO MATTER WHAT, from that time on. I supported her in that as best I could, but neither of us knew what lay in store. The task of caring for a loved one twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week began to take a deep and heavy toll.
Then came our city’s Hospice, and in an instant, we weren’t alone anymore. It was no longer just the three of us. Nothing less than a band of angels disguised as nurses, aides, social workers, musicians, chaplains and volunteers began to arrive. They eased Elain’s and our pain. They shared our burden. They comforted and supported all three of us during this part of Ellen’s life journey and for more than a year after her death….”
Will Kirk and I be making a hospice donation again this year?? Hands down, yes.
~Ann
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Dear Ann,
My Dad passed in a Hospice, the treatment, love, caring for the patient and the family is second to none. I believe it is the name “Hospice” they may put some people off, and therefore looking to them for assist. I highly recommend their “hospitality”, and whenever possible donate to them.
Thanks for posting that special letter.
~Char
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Hi Wendy, Thanks for giving us information on this great alternative to caregiving at one’s own home, a nursing home, etc. It sounds like you were very happy w/the personal care home you chose for your father…that’s great for the rest of us to know!!
Take care,
Ann
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Another option for longterm caregiving is a personal care home. My father went to one after a devastating head injury at the age of 90. He was too uncooperative for the nursing home, but the homelike atmosphere of a personal care home was good for him. Obviously I was lucky in finding a good one (I work, so living with me was out as he needed constant supervision).
They were as close to being at home as he could be; meals around the table, walking to the table, and the personnel had far more one-on-one time with them than at the nursing home he spent his immediate post-injury time at.
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