Home Care or Nursing Home?
July 13th, 2010
A friend commented on my FB wall concerning my post regarding the right place for taking care of the elderly. He wrote that in the U.S. and Western countries, the aged are sent to nursing homes while in third world countries like the Philippines, they are cared for at home. My curiosity piqued, I referred it to Google and to my surprise, “home care” is searched more (197 million times) than “nursing home” (11.8 million). Considering computer demographics and the need, it is safe to say that majority of those searching for “home care” was from the U.S. and other Western countries.
For skeptics, visit http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&complete=1 and do your own search. Figures will vary by the second but I bet my last centavo that the disparity between them will remain about the same.
What are they?
Home care (commonly called “domiciliary care”) is supportive care provided in the patient’s home. It becomes “home health care” if done by licensed healthcare professionals (called “skilled care” in the U.S.) or plainly “home care” if done by non-medical people, i.e., family, friends, voluntary caregivers, etc.
To be on the safe side in considering “home care,” it is good idea to refer to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), the largest trade association in the U.S. representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices and home care professional organizations. The NAHC maintains a database of more than 20,000 home care and hospice agencies to choose from.
Home care - where love is.
Nursing home, a more familiar term in the U.S. and other Western countries, is a place of residence for people with significant deficiencies with activities of daily living, thus requiring constant nursing care. Inhabited mostly by the elderly, nursing homes may also accommodate younger adults with physical or mental disabilities. Residents in a skilled nursing home facility may also receive physical, occupational and other rehabilitative therapies following an accident or illness.
Choosing the right facility can be very difficult. Consult the Web to be on the safe side. A group, Nursing Home INFO can provide invaluable assistance with their 10-point tips in selecting one.
Who is Melanie Ambrose?
Melanie Ambrose took care of her parents for more than 20 years. Out of that experience, she wrote a book, “Adopting Your Parents,” (http://978e64rby9wh4mxikgz4t5ensh.hop.clickbank.net/).
Not everyone has the desire or financial resources to send their parents to nursing homes. This heartfelt and emphatic book will be of great help to those in that category.
For me?
I live in a third world country, hence I will be staying home in my doddering years. But I pray to God that I will not be in the same situation as my uncle was in his last days. What I saw when I visited him in his home was pitiable. After all those years of high living and heaping abuse upon himself through wine, women, song and all the things in between, what I saw was a semi-lurid old man in pampers.
