What is Home Care?

Home Care is a specific type of senior care that enables you to stay in your own home for longer. A professional caregiver visits you at your residence to provide support with home management, meal prep and more. Home Care is a distinct care type that differs from other types of in-home care, including Home Health Care, Private Nursing Care, and more.

If you’re at the start of your journey looking into senior living options, you may feel overwhelmed by new vocabulary and information. Deciphering terms, levels of care, types of care, paid-for and out-of-pocket services, providers, and a host of other details are all easier with the right resources. Here, we explore Home Care, to help you decide whether it’s right for you.

Pros and Cons of Home Care for Seniors

When a senior is in need of what’s called “Home Care,” what does it mean? The obvious answer is that they’re looking for someone who can provide care services at their current address. But figuring out what those services include (and do not include) may be the most important part of your research.

Home Care Pros:

• One positive aspect of Home Care is the personal support that seniors receive. However, that support is limited within the constraints of the residence.
• If Home Care is only needed temporarily, it may be a more viable solution.
• It is beneficial if a senior only needs help with a few things, like errands, meal prep, and showers three times a week.

Home Care Cons:

• Home Care does NOT include therapeutic care that would require the services of someone with licensed ability to provide it.
• Medical services, beyond reminders to take prescribed medications or regimens of exercise, require a higher level of training than many Home Care providers can offer.
• Home Care is often only a short-term solution, especially when additional assistance is needed to improve quality of life.

Home Care vs Home Health Care

Home Care is non-clinical help such as meal prep, laundry, helping to transfer into a bathtub, organizing pills out for the week, going to the store, and picking up your prescriptions at the local pharmacy. These are services that are paid for by the user via what’s known as “private pay.”

Home Health Care offers more, and there are several types of these services available for seniors. We are often asked what kinds of Home Health Care services are covered by Medicare. Home Health Care professionals, like Nurses, assess recovery, offer wound care and temperature checks, provide blood pressure assistance, monitor oxygen, and order tanks. These services and others are often covered, usually for a period of time while the individual is recovering from illness or injury.

If you are considering Home Care or Home Health Care for yourself or your loved one, you can learn more about making the right selection by viewing our article “How Do I Choose Home Care?”

Find the Right Care Type

Typically, Home Care services are not among the referrals that we provide. Over time, we’ve learned that at some point, seniors that initially choose Home Care often eventually require the services that our communities provide. Review our article to compare Home Care to Other Senior care Options.

Even if Home Care serves an immediate need, it’s often more like a band-aid that will work for the time being, rather than a long-term solution

At Referah, we understand the challenges that come with determining the right path for you or your loved one. We hope that our library of reference materials helps you to better understand not only what level of care is required, but also how we can be of assistance in your search.

Whether you’re interested in Home Care or exploring a range of options, our professional senior living staff will be more than happy to help you or your loved one select a care option that meets their needs and more. Talk to one of our experts about finding the right care option for you, or start exploring senior living communities today.