Elderly Prefer to Remain at Home

What is widely viewed as the best and most viable delivery of health care in America?  The answer…approximately 90 percent of infirm and elderly individuals have been found to prefer home care over comparable institutional care. 

Benefits of Home Care

What are some of the benefits to seniors remaining in their own homes? 

Home care and living assistance is delivered – as you would expect – at home.  Dorothy, the character in The Wizard of Oz, said it best: “There’s no place like home.” Certainly, this is a statement that most people would wholeheartedly agree with. There is nothing like the comfort and familiarity of being cared for in the comfort and familiarity of one’s own home. Seniors value their homes. Like all of us, they also have an ingrained road map with the physical layout of the home…how the hallway leads into the kitchen; the width of the stairway; how to get in and out of certain chairs, or the living room couch.

Home care helps keep families together.  Compare this to taking an elderly person away from their loved ones. There can be a significant void in the home environment. At no time is family more important than during times of illness.

Home care helps seniors maintain their independence.  Home care allows seniors to continue to live in the place they function best – their home. Actually, the care engagement philosophy at Home Care Partners is to allow the senior to continue to engage in all household functions in which they are physically and mentally able. If an elder is unsafe or unable to properly cook a meal, our care staff will prepare and serve. But we may insist that the elder get up and walk to the table to eat. In this case, our staff has assisted with the meal preparation and clean-up, but has not “catered” to the client. Getting up to the table requires their movement, which provides some exercise for muscle groups and mobility.

Home care prevents (or postpones) institutional life.  Living in a long-term care facility is unfamiliar and can often be intimidating. Without question, in many cases institutional care facilities may be the single most appropriate living environment for seniors needing special, or specific attention. But it is rare to have a senior actively lobby for a change from home to institutional living. Most people prefer postponing the inevitable as long as possible. Home is where the heart is, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, home is where the senior prefers to live.

Home care helps promote healing. Medical evidence shows that people recover more quickly at home. An elder is in his/her normal environment. Undoubtedly, they can get a better night’s rest than in a strange bed – in a noisy facility.

JD Miller

About JD Miller

John D. Miller is the founder/owner of Home Care Partners, LLC, a Massachusetts business providing private duty, personalized in-home assistance and companion care services to those needing help in daily activities and household functions. Phone: (781) 378-2164 Email: [email protected] Website: https://homecarepartnersma.com
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