Tags: Sarasota Home Care Agency, Sarasota Independent Private Duty Nursing, Sarasota Private Duty Nursing, Sarasota Senior Home Care Near Me, Sarasota Senior Wellness
Did you know that senior citizens are the fastest-growing demographic in America? In 2019, over a span of 119 years, the percentage of seniors quadrupled from 4% to 16%. With continuing advances in medicine and quality of life, experts only predict that number growing, with some estimates projecting the population to nearly double to 95.7 million.
This means we can expect many more families to confront the decision of how to best support their elder loved ones and what plans to make for themselves and their spouse when they reach that age. If you’ve just started this journey but are overwhelmed by your options, this is the article for you.
Continue reading to learn more about choosing between home care and nursing home when searching for “senior care near me.”
What Is Sarasota Home Care?
If you’ve recently typed “senior home care near me” into a search bar, you’ll have noticed that there are options that cater to every need. This means home care is what you require it to be, with the one distinction that seniors can stay in their homes.
The types of services vary from agency to agency, but the best Sarasota in home care services for seniors usually offer house care help, respite care, companionship, transportation, and personal care support. Specialized home care services may also include Alzheimer’s and Dementia care.
Some specific examples of individual services are;
- Meal preparation and planning
- Laundry and tidying up
- Administering medication
- Accompany Shopping
- Ambulatory Care
- Grooming
- Healthcare management
- and much more
When you first contact your local Sarasota senior home care agency, they will ask about your loved one’s lifestyle and medical needs to determine the best combination of home care services for you.
What to Expect at a Nursing Home
Nursing home care also ranges from personal care assistance, such as bathing and getting dressed, to more complex medical care provided by registered nurses. Some nursing homes also have a relationship with a local hospital, allowing families to easily stay within a hospital network of which they are familiar. The best ones will have a facility design that’s easy to navigate, an on-staff doctor who spends individual time with every resident to reassess needs regularly, and most importantly: happy, healthy residents.
The downsides to this type of senior care are that many in this environment have a rough adjustment phase, where they miss their former lives and home. They also may feel an acute sense of loss of independence. Although the higher quality facilities help combat this by having luxury amenities that help seniors retain their lives, these locations are expensive and cost-prohibitive to many.
Determining the Level of Care
The first step when researching “senior care near me” is to determine the level of care your family member needs. Often, experts divide this into three groups.
Level one care is for those who live independent lives but might need some assistance with daily living activities or medication reminders. Next is level two, which is recommended for those who need more help. For example, someone who can do most daily activities unassisted but needs help with bathing and healthcare management.
Last, level three care is provided to seniors who can’t do most daily care activities on their own. Alzheimer’s or Dementia patients most often fall into this category.
To evaluate the level of care, you should consider whether they have medical needs that require assistance, such as a catheter or a colostomy bag. Also, if they can feed, bathe, and dress themselves.
Another thing to consider is if they have behaviors that need to be monitored, such as impulsivity or forgetfulness, that can lead them to harm. An example of behavior might be if they forget to turn the oven off after cooking.
However, sometimes it’s hard to truly evaluate someone when we interact with them daily. If you’re finding it hard to have an outsider’s perspective, you should consult an expert with a Sarasota independent private duty nursing provider to help assign levels of care.
Choosing Between Sarasota Home Care and Nursing Home
Sometimes the decision is simple, but often our relatives don’t fit neatly into one category. This makes the choice between home care and nursing home fraught with emotion. We all aspire to honor our family member’s desires while making the choice that’s best for them.
However, sometimes the decisions are made for us. If the senior in your life has disabilities that make living in a home setting difficult, whether physically or because they require 24-7 care or if their home is unsafe, a nursing home would be the best option for them.
Otherwise, home care is not only possible but often the best solution for most other situations. And not all home care providers are created equal. You should search for “private duty nursing agencies near me” with CHAP accreditation.
Senior Care Near Me: Finding the Right Setting
Now that you know what to expect when searching for “senior care near me,” you should have some idea of what type of setting would be best for the older adult in your life. For many, the ideal scenario is to stay at home.
And, if you’re finding it difficult to make a choice, don’t worry; you don’t have to make these decisions alone. Instead, reach out to a trusted provider to see if home care is right for you.
At Alternative Homemaking with a Heart, we’ve been proudly serving the Southwest Florida region for over three decades. We are family-run and take immense pride in treating your loved ones as we would our own family. We assure this is the case because our care providers are not independent contractors; they work directly for us.
When you’re ready, contact us to see how we can serve your family.
