If you or a loved one needs a specific type of care, it can be a challenge and even daunting to decide what is the right option, and researching these options can often be overwhelming. While previously care homes were the most popular choice, home care is becoming a more popular option by the day. Unlike a regular care home, in-home care provides levels of independence, support, and convenience that you cannot find elsewhere. To give you a better idea of why home care is some popular, here are the many benefits of home care and why you should consider it.
Home Care Means More Comfort
No matter how well-maintained or modern standard care homes can be, they cannot compete with the comfort of your own home, and with at-home care, you or a relative can still enjoy everything about where you live without making a significant change.
Undertaking care at home means you are surrounded by everything you love, including photographs of the family, your favourite chair, and all the memories you have made throughout the years. We all know how challenging it can be to adapt to a new environment. By staying in your home and receiving at-home care, you can avoid any of the teething problems and sudden shifts associated with relocating.
Decreased Risk of Falls or Injury
Likewise, home care also helps to reduce the risk of falls or injury that you could experience by moving to a care home. As you are already familiar with the house and all of its quirks, creaky floorboards, and loose curtain rods, there is little chance for surprises as you get to grips with a brand new environment.
With less risk for potential injuries or accidents, you can feel more confident in your home and can minimise the chance for additional complications that can help you continue to live how you want.
More Control Over The Type Of Care
The majority of care home policies provide specified treatment for most if not all of their residents. While there will be specific treatments in place for some residents, the general level of care across the occupants is mostly the same. However, as home care is covered under the Consumer Directed Care Model, you as the patient gets more of a say over the type of care you need, and you can personalise it to best suit your needs.
You may not need to take part in as many care programs, or you may find that some treatments are not beneficial to you. Because of the increased control you will experience you can adapt your care model to ensure that you receive the best possible treatment for whatever issues you encounter. This will help you cope better with any illnesses or conditions and help provide the customised treatment you require.
Home Care Flexibility
While you may require home care for one reason or another, it’s no secret that needs can change throughout treatment. With personalised care made possible by a home care agency, you can adapt your treatment to suit any shifts or alterations in what you require.
It might be that you feel like you need regular care and visits at first, but over time this could change, and you may not require such close treatment. In this instance, the carer can reduce the number of visits. Conversely, it could work the other way, and you may not feel satisfied with the original plan for your treatment.
Because home care treatment offers this flexibility, you can change, adjust, and adapt your plan to best suit your needs with little issue. Home care services allow you to determine what sort of care you need and how long you need it for. Sometimes, there is no need to book your or a family member into a dedicated care home only to leave after a few months following recovering from a broken bone or something similar, and home care allows this to be possible.
Happier Experience
Studies have shown that patients who opt for in-home care over a care home residency are happier. There are many factors involved in this. Some of them include freedom, rather than believing they are ‘trapped’ inside the facility. Another is the familiarity of your house compared to a new environment.
You are bound to feel more confident in your own home. You know the area, you know your neighbours, and you have even fostered connections and relationships with those who live and work in your area. Making such a change, regardless of age, can be a challenge, and this further explains why home care residents appear to be happier than those who have been moved to care homes for treatment.
More Convenient
A home care experience is also more convenient for you, but also your friends and family. For one, you do not need to deal with the hassle of transporting clothes, photo albums, and your TV, among other items, from the house to the care home, and this can reduce stress for everybody involved.
Stress is often the last thing you need when it has come to the point where you need in-home care treatment, so the convenience of keeping everything as it is allows you and your family to keep a cool head.
Sometimes, care homes are not as close to your family as your house is, and moving away could pose problems. This isn’t always true, however, and families will often move a family member to a care home closer to their city to ensure they can see you as often as possible. With home care, though, this does not become a factor.
No Restricted Hours
Most care homes have restricted visiting hours to save agitation for the other residents. With home care, this is not something that happens. Home care comes with no restrictions, allowing you and your family to come and go as you please. This provides a level of freedom that is not prevalent in standard care home policies, and also makes it easier for your family to arrange visits, even if the hours are not consistent.
This can have excellent benefits for the mental aspect of home care. Despite larger care homes being full of other people, there are still instances of residents feeling lonely, even if others surround them. By allowing the family to visit whenever they can, even if this is several times a week, you can keep your mind active through companionship.
If possible, you can also arrange for a spare bedroom to be made up for the carer or a family member to stay overnight in some instances, which is not regularly possible at care homes.
Faster Recovery
Another fantastic benefit of care homes is the rate of recovery. If you or a family member has suffered a broken bone or is recovering from surgery, home care is a superb way to help make recovery speedy and successful.
The comfort of your home, familiar environment and reduced stress from the potentially distressing nature of a hospital or care home helps to relax the patient after an operation. This, in turn, can help to speed up tissue regeneration and accelerates recovery. In your home, there is also less chance of germs or other issues which could cause an infection and complicate matters.
With faster recovery, you will also reduce the risk of further hospital admissions, which can also help promote rapid healing. With on-call carers and family members close-by ready to attend to every need, you can relax and focus solely on your recovery to guarantee that you get back to health as soon as possible.
One-on-One Attention and Treatment
Home carers provide comprehensive one-on-one treatment and give the patient all the attention you need. This is beneficial for both you and your family. As a home care recipient, you can explain your needs entirely to the carer, and they can honour any requests you make to ensure full comfort and excellent treatment.
For your family, they can feel confident that the carer is not called out during treatment to attend to more pressing matters (although that is a matter of context). This gives them the peace of mind that you are being taken care of without distractions, and any incidents, progress, or regressions are immediately noted down, with the next course of action being decided speedily.
One-to-one care will also help the one administering the care and treatment. By focusing on one patient at a time, they are more involved and have less going on in their head, which allows them to provide more effective care.
With such close treatment, there is also the opportunity to build a rapport between carer and patient, and the family will also come to recognise the carer as someone dedicated to helping you overcome any illnesses or injuries.
Independence
While you will still be receiving care from the in-home carer, you also get to maintain your independence. This is relevant both inside the house and outside the house, and because it is your home, you can move through it with zero restrictions, doing whatever you want, whenever you want.
Most care homes try to offer relative levels of freedom to residents, but this is nothing in comparison to the independence and freedom you can find with home care. You can watch whatever you want on TV; you can listen to all the music you desire. You can have visitors whenever you want. And you can eat whatever you want for dinner, rather than being on a meal rota, unless the carer has set you a meal plan to assist with treatment and recovery.
Many seniors are concerned about the level of independence when considering their care options, and home care will help them feel like less of a burden on other people. With in-home care, you have the chance to continue living your life as normally as you did previously.
Pet Ownership
It is no surprise that care homes do not allow pets of any time in their facilities. There is a good reason for this, of course. Pets in care homes can come with a variety of issues, including disease and could create unsanitary conditions if they are not adequately cared for by the resident, as it would not be the staff’s responsibility to clean up after the pet.
However, home care means that you or your relative does not need to part with their beloved pet, which in itself can be stressful. The companionship offered by a pet helps keep the mind active and also helps to reduce blood pressure and heart disease, while it can also keep dementia patients calm.
Even if you need assistance in caring for the animal, it is dramatically better than needing to give it away and gives you a reason to get up every morning to take them for walks or feed them.
Cost-Effectiveness
Money should not be a primary reason to opt for home care over care homes. Still, official care home facilities can be expensive, especially as the rates are typically arranged on a month-by-month basis. Conversely, home care is charged by the hour, and as you may not need the carer to attend all day, every day, you can save money on the care provided.
As you are staying in your home, either one that is rented or purchased outright, the care is the only additional cost. You are already paying your mortgage off or depositing the rent cheque every month, so the hourly rate will be easier to work with.
As you may not require continuous care following your recovery, the expenses do not seem that steep, which relieves stress on you and your family while still ensuring you get the treatment you deserve.
Taking Care Of You
A home care agency is always prepared to help you or a loved one make necessary changes that will help you continue to live a healthy and happy life. If home care sounds like something that could benefit you or someone you know, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a Home Care Expert today at 1300 875 377 to learn more.
