Home Care Versus Nursing Home Care

Most elders would prefer to stay in their own homes, where they know their neighbors and can associate memories with each piece of furniture and object around them, rather than move to an institution as they age.

Things that can make “aging in place” — the current term for staying in one’s own home as one ages — problematic are tasks such as cooking, cleaning, toileting, shopping, doing laundry, and driving, as well as falls, which for frail elders could initiate a downward spiral.

Support systems

• Help could come from family members, friends, or neighbors, who take care of the specific thing the elder has trouble with — such as doing laundry or shopping.
• Or, some elders turn to their religious community, as often there are volunteers willing to enable a senior to age in place.

• Home care agencies can be hired to provide the extra help needed for the senior to be able to age in place. In some cases, expenses will be reimbursed by Medicare, but seniors will need to check with the home care agency to find out about this possibility.

New technology can help seniors

• Electronic devices are now available to help monitor whether or not a senior has taken his or her medication — and if not, to remind the senior — or to determine whether a senior has opened the refrigerator.
• Emergency buttons can be worn around the neck and pressed if a health or other emergency should occur, in which case a person will speak to the senior through the device, assess the situation, and call for appropriate help.
• Cameras can be installed to track a senior’s movements, allowing adult children to monitor the senior and be assured that he or she is functioning well.
• New devices are constantly being invented, and they can make an enormous difference in a senior’s ability to age in place.

With all of these options available, aging in place is an increasingly viable choice. Seniors and their loved ones need to assess whether this alternative is indeed best, the risk being that the senior may become too socially isolated despite being in familiar neighborhoods and homes.