Long term care is the catchall term used to describe the type of care needed when close supervision and assistance with daily living tasks is needed by someone for more than 30 days at a time. According to current statistics, of those that are aged 65 or above, more than half will need long term care within their lives. If you have an elderly loved one, this is a helpful statistic, even if they seem to currently be in good health. There’s a greater than 50 percent chance that in the future, long term care will be something that happens for them. In other words, it is far more prudent to consider thinking about their care now than it is to wait.
So how do you begin the search for long term care? It’s an area so vast and so varied that just getting started is often the most difficult part of finding senior care for a loved one. A lot of people start with their concerns over how to pay for care, and although this is an important topic that does need to be addressed, it is typically not a good starting point. In fact, by starting here, you are unintentionally ignoring the most important component of all of this: your parent and their changing needs. This should be your starting point.
And it’s a very easy place to begin because you know your mom (or dad). You know what kinds of things they like and what they don’t like. You might even know quite a bit about their physical limitations. You might be taking care of a lot of their needs already, and you know what kinds of things they need help with around the house. You probably already know what medications they are supposed to take and when. These are the places where you already have an expertise, and starting here makes for a logical beginning point.
The next step is determining who and where these needs can best be met. Light needs that you are already handling, but simply don’t have the persistent time and energy to continue with can typically be handled by a professional in-home caregiver. The word “professional” here is a very important one. You want a professional because they have the experience and the training to ensure that if needs do change, that they can adapt what they do. They also are far more likely to have emergency training in the event that something were to occur. You don’t want these things to happen, of course, but you can never plan ahead exactly. This is especially true with seniors. There are just far too many uncertainties in life to predict the future accurately.
If you have questions about what your loved one’s needs really are, then we urge you to meet with a doctor or another professional. They will have the expertise to show you what your mom or dad needs help with on a daily basis, and they might uncover things that you weren’t aware of. As you plan your parent’s long term care, you want to make sure that you take what’s best for them into account.
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