As you age, you may have noticed your body isn’t as strong or as fast as it used to be. Some tasks have started getting harder. The road is starting to get blurrier. It may be harder to bend and tie your shoes. You see what is coming and you hop onto Google looking for what senior care Pearland has to offer. You find multiple options. One of the options you find is in-home senior care. In-home senior care is when a professional caregiver comes into your home to assist with your daily tasks, whether it’s cooking meals, cleaning the house, grooming, or even transportation. Just as other forms of senior care, in-home senior care has its pros and cons.
The Pros of In-Home Senior Care
Comforts of home
In-home senior care provides you assistance within the comfort of your home. A professional comes to your house and helps you. Moving is one of the more stressful events in life. By having the professional come to you, you can stay in the house where you made memories and avoid extra stress.
Personalized Care
In most assisted living facilities clients outnumber the nurses 10 to 1. With so many patients to a nurse, they can’t give the individual attention it deserves. With in-home senior care, the professional doesn’t have to worry about other clients. They can focus all their attention on your needs.
Safer from infections
When people get together, infection rates increase. People carry illnesses and diseases with them, even if they don’t know it. If you choose in-home senior care, the only person that can infect you are family members who visit you. You have a greater chance of avoiding infections by receiving care in your home.
Family support
Helping someone every day for years can lead to burnout. (we’ll discuss this in a later section). When you use in-home senior care your family can come and support you. They can visit and not have to worry about strict visiting hours. They can come in on the weekends, spend time with you and give you the help you need.
The Cons of In-Home Senior Care
Isolation
Most assisted living centers are a small community of elderly citizens who have the younger generations take care of them. There are activities there, and most of the residents get to know each other and interact frequently. While you do get to stay in the comforts of your home with in-home senior care, you don’t get much interaction with others as an assisted living facility. This lack of interaction can lead to isolation, a feeling of being alone with nobody around you, which could lead to illnesses such as depression.
Caregiver deficiencies
While “all men are created equal”, not everybody acts the same. Everybody has flaws. Not every caregiver is perfect. Some may have abrasive personalities and a lack of patience. Some may experience burnout from visiting the same person repeatedly and may stop trying. Not all caregivers are like this but are cautious who you have come into your home to take care of you.
Accessibility
As you continue in life you may need some extra assistance, whether that be a cane, wheelchair, or walker. Your home currently may be inaccessible for a wheelchair. The bathtub you have may need to be changed for a walk-in tub. If you choose to receive in-home senior care you may need to make some modifications to your house to make it more accessible to you.
Resources available during an emergency
You never know if things will go wrong, nobody ever does. You can always prepare for it, but an emergency may happen unexpectedly. Even though you have prepared your house with some equipment, it probably won’t have all the resources you need. Most assisted living communities have resources available 24/7 for emergencies.
So, if you are looking at what Assisting Hands in Littleton has to offer, keep these pros and cons in mind. Evaluate your needs and wants and then decide whether in-home senior care is the care for you. Our free in-home consultation can be a great way to discuss your specific situation and needs. To schedule this complimentary meeting, just call (720) 902-9841.
