If you merely mention the word care home, most people and in particular the older generation, shudder at the thought due to the stigma care homes have been given over the years. The idea of loved ones being neglected or mistreated is a spine tingling thought that none of us would wish upon our nearest and dearest. However in this modern day and age, care homes have become far more diligent when it comes to providing a good level of care to elderly and seniors.
What reason would someone need to go into a home?
Care homes are ideal for those people who cannot be looked after in their own home. Whether this is because there is no one to care for them or perhaps their condition has progressed to a point when live in home care is no longer an option. Usually a representative for the individual will spend some time looking for an ideal home, for their family member or friend to live out their days but this isn’t always the case, especially for those who may not have any living relatives or friends. In an ideal scenario the representative will take their pick of some of the better care homes in the area, and it is recommended that they should find out more from the staff on how things run day to day, to get a better idea if the home is ideal for their loved one.
Every individual needs to be assessed!
It’s simply not a case of finding the perfect care home, signing some papers and handing over your loved one. No, there’s actually a bit more to it! Actually, all care homes will carry out an assessment on the individual in need, to see if they are fit for their home. Whilst this might sounds strange it’s actually a really practical way of deciding if the care home is perfect for the individual. For example my mother’s father has been suffering with a type of dementia, which causes him to go wondering the streets, thinking he needs to be somewhere. On his good days he is fully functional and apart from some support with his mobility around the house, he generally gets on fine with life. Up until now my family have paid for live-in care services, but the carers cannot be there all the time to make sure he doesn’t go wondering. He recently had an episode where he went walking and became very confused, and we’ve decided it’s finally time that we find him a nice care home. We came across one place that we like the look of and have arranged a consultation for a representative to come out and meet him. First they will need to assess if he is unstable enough to qualify for the care home, and then they need to decide if they are the right care home for his condition.
What some people don’t realise is that care homes can specify in certain conditions. For example we could look for a care home that specialises in dementia, which allows them to give the proper level of care for their dementia residents. There are some care homes that actually aren’t specific to a condition, and are open to a variety of residents and their conditions. The latter is that of which applies to the home we are currently looking at.
It seems nice enough compared to others in our area, and I know they will look after my grandfather well. I just hope he passes his assessment so that my family are able to get things back to normality with their own lives, as his care has been very stressful over the last 3 years.
