3 Misconceptions About Senior Home Care in Inland Empire, CA
Senior home care is a category of professional support services that help seniors live safely at home for as long as they’d like. Barring any significant medical issues that require constant care and around-the-clock monitoring, senior home care enables seniors to take back their autonomy and recover a sense of independence as they live safely at home.
The length of care and the level of services needed vary from client to client. Sometimes clients need temporary help while their primary caregiver takes respite or is out of town. Other times long-term care is necessary. Care services range from things like light housekeeping and meal prep to medication management, transportation, and personal care assistance.
There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding senior home care that deter people who could truly benefit from the service. Below is a list of the top 3 biggest misconceptions about senior home care in Inland Empire, California.
1: Senior Home Care Is for Sick People
Senior home care is not hospice. There is a common misconception that home care is for people who are terminally ill. This is not the case. In fact, there are two basic types of home care services: medical and non-medical. Medical senior home care is for people who were either:
- Recently discharged from the hospital.
- Are recovering from surgery, injury, or illness.
- Need assistance managing chronic conditions.
Non-medical care, on the other hand, provides help with activities and tasks related to daily living. These types of activities, often referred to as activities of daily living (ADLs), include meal preparation, housework, grocery shopping, errand running, and transportation to participate in leisure or social activities.
Non-medical care can include personal hygiene assistance like bathing/showering and toilet use, oral hygiene, nail care, and grooming. Sometimes non-medical care can just mean companionship services to help seniors stay engaged. By doing so, we increase social satisfaction and decrease depressive symptoms in seniors.
Hiring a senior in-home care aide doesn’t have to mean sacrificing independence. In fact, in most cases, it helps to foster it. As seniors age, regular household and personal care tasks can take a lot more energy, so having some assistance in those areas allows them to focus on the things they can do more easily or the activities they enjoy doing. Also, according to the Center For Disease Control, the leading cause of injury among the senior population is falling. With proper senior home care, you can prevent falls and even fractures in senior family members.
2: Senior Home Care Is Expensive
Many people equate senior home care with a high price. It seems as though everyone has known someone who drained their savings or exhausted their financial resources on home care. But the truth of the matter is that it can be surprisingly affordable. A recent survey showed that the average family overestimates the cost of hiring a non-medical home care aide by about $6 an hour. Plus, almost ¾ of the seniors who were surveyed reported that the care they received was of good value and they rated their satisfaction with the quality of care highly.
There are several alternatives that people choose when they believe senior care in the home will be too costly. The three main choices are having a family member(s) step in to be the primary caregiver(s), hiring a private caregiver, and using nursing home care. Each of these comes with its own set of challenges, physically, mentally, and financially. Family members often get burned out trying to balance their personal and professional lives with a senior loved one who needs regular help. The private caregiver optic can quickly become expensive and runs the risk of hiring a person who hasn’t been properly vetted. A nursing facility is by far the most expensive option, far greater than senior care services. Genworth’s Cost of Care Survey stated that the price of a private room in a nursing facility has increased substantially, totaling more than $77,745 per year.
3: Senior Home Care Aids Aren’t Trustworthy
A common misconception is that hiring a home care aide for yourself or a senior loved one is a gamble. You don’t know who they are sending into your home. You don’t know if you will get along well with them. Are they trustworthy and qualified? Questions and concerns like these are valid. Furthermore, any reputable senior home care service will put their employees through a comprehensive screening process before hiring them. For instance, a typical screening process includes a complete background check, in-depth reference checks and employment history verifications, and skills competency tests. Home care aides are healthcare professionals and highly trained to be able to deliver quality care directed at your specific and individual needs.
In addition to fully vetting their aides to ensure they are qualified and reliable, senior care services do their best to match their clients with the right aides to create the best chemistry. Sometimes it’s a perfect match, and other times it takes a few tries to make the best connection. If a client ever feels uncomfortable or unhappy with their caregiver, the home care servicer will make it right. Likewise, the relationship will not work if it isn’t built on a strong foundation of trust.
CA senior care in-home is a great option for you or your elderly family members! Especially when seniors need additional help to maintain independence. Check out these great resources for how you can best utilize Inland Empire senior care services.
