24-hour Home Care Instead of Living in a Nursing Home
For people who otherwise would need nursing home care, 24-hour care at home can often be a wonderful option. No matter where they live, whether in the Minneapolis St. Paul metro area, or in central or southern Minnesota, people can often choose to live at home instead of a nursing home. They can live in their own home, use their own dishes, look at their own backyard, live with their spouse, receive guests in their own home, etc. Home can be a longtime family home, a farm in rural MN, a new senior apartment, a townhome, or the home of a son or daughter.
24-hour home care is sometimes called “live-in” care. This means that the caregivers (home health aides) sleep at the client’s home, and are there 24-hours a day. Typically there are two regular caregivers, who alternate on a schedule, such as alternating weeks.
The following are common to 24-hour home care and nursing home care:
- Caregivers have the same training (nursing assistant training)
- Caregivers are supervised by R.N.s
- The cost is similar (of course individual cases vary)
- Medicare-covered Physical Therapy is available in both settings
- Care such as use of mechanical lifts, catheter care, and tube feeding are provided in both settings
There are many advantages of home care vs. living in a nursing home:
- Clients live in familiar surroundings, have their pets, live the way they want to live, eat what they want to eat, etc.
- People have their privacy
- People can receive friends at home, instead of trying to make new friends
- Care for those with memory loss can be at home, which is often better
- There is more personal attention from the R.N. Care Manager
