Senior care isn’t just nursing homes and caregivers. Sometimes, it can also be little things like a neighbor checking up on an elderly person that lives nearby. At other times, senior care is about preparing for end of life. Hospice care has grown in its use over the last several years, but one part of it is sometimes overlooked. In-home hospice care is an important tool that can be used to make a loved one’s last few weeks much more comfortable.
Most people enjoy the familiarity and comfort of home more than other places. They want to be able to relax without having to worry about strange places and being reliant on other people for help. This goes for routine senior care and it goes for end of life care, too. If you have a loved one that is in need of hospice care, you have choices beyond the hospice center. In many locations, this sort of palliative care can be applied within the home, and it makes the final days that much more comfortable.
What really separates in-home hospice care from traditional hospice care is the fact that family is more heavily involved. You aren’t just going to visit your mom or dad for a few hours; you are still right there with them every moment. If you had lived together before, you can spend their last days with them in your home. It makes a very trying process much easier to handle simply because there is no transition to a different location. In the past, many scientific studies have focused on this and they have found that seniors tend to deteriorate much more quickly both mentally and physically if there is a traumatic shift in locations, especially if dementia is involved. When it comes to hospice, you can avoid this shift altogether just by hiring a caregiver that specializes in end of life needs.
Having a family member with a terminal illness is not easy by any measure. Families are put in a state of grieving early, all while having the difficult task of care planning to take care of. It is a trying time and it is very stressful. However, by keeping your loved one home, you can take a tiny bit of that difficulty away. It certainly is not a solution, but it does make this tough time a tiny bit easier in many instances. Hospice care has become much easier to find over the last decade or so, but in-home care hasn’t often been used. Insurance companies like Medicare are beginning to cover this more and more, and hopefully it will become a more widely spread practice. Until then, there are many private companies, such as Paradise In-Home Care, out there that can assist you with your search. Make sure that the caregivers you hire are fully trained, insured, and loving, compassionate people. This not only protects you and your family, it also ensures that your elderly loved one will have the best care that you can get for them during their last days.
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