Some Care Options for Aging People Who Are On A Budget

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
Location
USA
I think a lot of us have this on our minds, needing long term care in our homes or in a nursing facility, and the high cost of doing so. Full article HERE.

In late 2014, Lisa Hawes’ mom, Elizabeth Hartford, went into a rehabilitative center in Eugene, Oregon, after suffering two strokes. Medicare covered part of her bill for two months of treatment at the facility, Hawes says. When doctors determined Hartford, then 91, was finished with her treatment, they told the family that Hartford would be responsible for the full bill of $8,000 a month if she remained in the long-term care wing of the rehab center. Hawes and her brother started looking for a “more reasonably priced option,” she says.

Fortunately, a county official who worked as a patient advocate provided the pair with a link to a directory of home facilities providing an array of care, depending on the condition of the resident. Hawes and her brother checked out a couple of assisted living facilities. Based on the evaluation of clinicians at the rehab center, Hartford needed a high level of care, with around-the-clock attention.




“We found a wonderful, licensed, family-run ‘adult foster home’ with a maximum of four female residents,” Hawes says. “It is a family home in a residential neighborhood that is outfitted to accommodate the elderly, run by a live-in husband-and-wife team, with their daughter as one of the additional caregivers. The residents eat their meals together at the dining table in the kitchen and sit together in the living room to watch TV, arguing over 'Law & Order' reruns vs. Hallmark Channel romances. The caregivers are qualified to give medications and will take residents to medical appointments or run other errands as needed.”

Finding the right kind of nursing care option for yourself or a family member can be an emotionally fraught challenge, since such transitions typically deal with the realities of losing a measure of independence.

For many people, the situation is complicated by a limited budget, and the reality is that the annual median cost for a semiprivate room in a nursing home is about $85,000, says Rani E. Snyder, program director at The John. A. Hartford Foundation. The foundation disburses grants to groups that work in the areas of family caregiving, age-friendly health systems and those that provide help for people facing serious illness and end-of-life issues.
Click to expand...
 

Interesting, SeaBreeze.

For 9yrs, I worked in residential care homes for mentally disabled adults. These were clean homes that served healthy meals and provided appropriate training in self-care and "survival" skills (survival meaning how to use public transportation, public phones, how to purchase something at a store, etc) and physical activities. Each resident had a private room with their own furniture, and were supervised by trained staff, including at least one licensed psychiatric nurse and a live-in care giver.

The "adult foster care homes" sound very similar in the way they are staffed and administered. It's awesome that they exist and I'm sure it will be a growing "industry."

When it does grow, let's all insist the homes have proper over-sight. This will be something to keep an eye on.
 
Here's some other sources:

www.eldercare.gov to find the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) in your area.
www.caregiver.org Family Caregiver Alliance

Also, most hospitals/HMOs have a patient advocate who can help. Kaiser HMO, for example, has a booklet printed locally which lists many types of care facilities for members to research.
 

Cap'nSacto said:
When it does grow, let's all insist the homes have proper over-sight. This will be something to keep an eye on.
Click to expand...

This is my concern too. Especially with homes that are staffed with family members, the possibiiity for unreported problems would be greater. It's one of those situations that could be either wonderful or terrible, with little in between.
 
As the life spans increase, and the numbers of Seniors who require some assistance grows, there is going to be an increasing need for quality Senior care facilities...especially for those with limited financial resources. High quality care is quite expensive, and unless a person is fairly wealthy, or has a good LTC policy, many will wind up in State run facilities that meet minimum requirements.
 
Great post Seabreeze. Thank you. I had never heard of the adult foster home option before. I talked with my son about options other than nursing homes because here in N.J. according the the chart (linked below) the annual cost of a nursing home would be over $155,000, well above the $85,000 mentioned as the median for the nation. I also sent him the link to nursing homes with the best ratings in our area. There is an adult day care center right around the corner from where I live, but it's only open 5 days a week. I was not able to get LTC insurance so so if I had to go into a nursing home, any continuous stay more than 120 days will have to come out of my pocket. This chart is at least a couple of years old so nursing home rates have probably risen.
https://www.skillednursingfacilities.org/resources/nursing-home-costs/

 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top