Resources for Senior Care Facilities

A Guide to Senior Care Facilities

If you’re caring for an elderly loved one, you’re probably thinking through the options available to you as a care coordinator.  You can provide all the care yourself, and sometimes that’s not a bad option – if your relative’s health is mostly strong and you have the time you’re probably in a good position to make yourself useful.  But you may also find that they need more support than you can offer.  That’s where a senior care facility comes in.  Let’s consider what some of the pros and cons might be in a decision like that.

Benefits

Senior care facilities aren’t just for hospital beds and nurses – they can often provide a sense of engagement for your loved one that they may not be enjoying currently.  One of the biggest dangers for the elderly is to fall out of touch with those around them and develop a sense of alienation.  That can lead to them becoming withdrawn and depressed, and it’s not conducive to good geriatric care.  But the simple interaction of their peers may be just the thing to ward off preventable dementia.

These kinds of facilities often have a battery of amenities to keep your relative engaged by both fellow patients and health care staff.  There’s often a pool, a billiards room, big-screen TVs, a library, and leafy grounds for them to walk in.  If their health is strong enough to take advantage of all these things, it can mean the difference between a happy, productive time in their lives and a lonely decline.

Of course there’s also the high level of medical care that comes with senior care facility life, and that’s not to be discounted.  In geriatric care, the most important element is proper monitoring and prevention.  Health scares need to be addressed immediately, or else they can snowball into something serious with surprising speed.  Having all the medical professionals and equipment they could ever need at their disposal is a surefire way to keep nasty surprises at bay.

Pitfalls

Many of the residents in senior care facilities have serious health issues.  It’s not everyone, but it affects the character of day-to-day life for all residents.  Even if your relative is still spry – perhaps especially if that’s the case – they might find it off-putting to have to share their lives with seriously ill people.  It can be a shock for many of us if we’ve never become accustomed to the sick.  It may be enough to put your relative off the notion.

There’s also the concern that they don’t receive the level of engagement they’d prefer.  If their health is very good, they may resent the limitations the facility places on their choice of friends.  That’s the kind of situation that could lead to increased alienation and even resentment within the family.  Avoid a scenario like that at all costs.

Conclusion

Senior care facilities are important elements of geriatric care – but they’re not for everyone.  Make sure your loved one fits the profile, because you want to make sure you make their health better, not worse.