Live-in home health care can help your loved ones feel secure & independent. Here are the benefits & costs to consider before you make your choice.
We know this wasn’t what The Lion King was talking about, but there’s a definite circle of life in most of our lives.
As children, we depend on our parents until we grow up and often become parents ourselves. As the years go on, we find ourselves caring for our parents as they cared for us.
A few decades after that, we’re the ones getting care from our own children. The cycle repeats with each generation.
It can be painful to watch your parents age and lose their health and independence. It helps if you can rest assured that you’re giving them the best possible care. If you can’t be the caretaker yourself, have you thought about live-in home health care?
What is Live-In Home Health Care?
When people talk about home health care, they’re usually talking about providers like Landmark Health. A nurse or other medical professional comes to the home a few times per week to provide intermittent health care.
If your loved one needs more comprehensive help, though, live-in home health care is an option. While the patient stays in their own home, a health professional lives with them and cares for their health on a constant basis.
Live-in home health care is an option that has saved countless lives over the years. Here’s a quick look into the ways it can help your family member.
How Does Live-In Home Health Care Save Lives?
If you’re not sure how much live-in home health can help your loved one, take a look at this list.
- Providing Care to the Homebound
There are an estimated two million people in the US over age 65 who are homebound. That’s a shocking number of people, many of whom don’t get the medical care they need.
It’s ironic in a way. A person’s illness prevents them from getting the care that this illness requires. As unfortunate as it is, it’s the reality for too many senior citizens and younger patients alike.
Live-in home health care, on the other hand, enhances these patients’ lives by giving them medical care right at home. A home health aide or nurse can perform basic exams and keep track of their vital signs.
Most of these aides can help with other health-related tasks too. Maybe they need to pick up the patient’s prescriptions or transport them to doctors’ visits. Live-in home health care has the advantage of being customizable to fit all your loved one’s needs.
- Emergency Care When You Need It
The elderly and ill are the people who are most likely to need emergency services, yet they’re the ones who have the hardest time accessing them.
For one, many people don’t know when they’re having a medical emergency. For instance, women often have unconventional heart attack symptoms so they don’t always recognize that they’re having a heart attack at all.
If you have a home health worker around at all times, though, they know the signs. Their in-depth medical knowledge helps them detect a problem.
Availability is an issue as well. If your loved one knows they have an emergency, the time it takes for them to call 911 and for EMS to reach them could be a dealbreaker.
That’s assuming they’re able to call 911 at all because they haven’t fallen unconscious.
A home health care specialist, on the other hand, can administer life-saving care right away. They’re not just available to respond at a moment’s notice, but they know how to respond to each situation as well.
On top of offering life-saving emergency care, a home health aide may be able to prevent emergencies in the first place. For instance, they can spot the signs of a blood clot before it becomes a pulmonary embolism.
- Creating a Healthy Environment
Your loved one’s environment has a massive impact on their health and safety. If you’re not around often, it’s hard to notice when their environment is hurting them more than it’s helping them.
A live-in home health aide is around often enough to help your loved one maintain a healthier home. They can look for hazards that could cause your loved one to fall while also keeping the home clear of fire hazards.
A live-in healthcare professional also has the ability to support a healthy lifestyle in other ways. They can cook healthy food your loved one doesn’t have the time or ability to cook. They can also keep the kitchen free from expired foods or other health hazards.
- Keeping Medications in Line
Medications are a major part of staying healthy for most aging people. A pill here and a tablet there add up. For someone who’s taking five or ten different medications, keeping track of them is a constant challenge.
A live-in home health aide can oversee all your loved one’s medications. They can maintain a schedule so your family member is always taking the medications on time and under the necessary circumstances.
A live-in home health care professional will also be able to keep an eye out for any adverse reactions. No one can completely predict how a medication will affect a patient or how it may interact with any of their other medications.
With a health care aide available 24/7 who knows what dangerous symptoms to look for, your loved one may be able to avoid complications.
Independence and Health Care in One
For most people, as they get older, there comes a time when they and their families need to decide how to give them the care they need. Moving into an assisted living facility or nursing home can be a painful experience, and no one wants to see their loved ones lose their independence.
Live-in home health care is the best of both worlds. Your loved one can stay at home and enjoy all their daily activities, but they have someone available at all times to keep them safe and healthy.
For more great tips about caring for your family members, young and old, check out our family care blog.
