Live-In Care: Alternatives to Care Homes

Deciding whether to avail of live-in care or residential home care can be challenging. You want your family member or members to stay in the best possible surroundings, covered by exceptional care, so you must choose wisely when selecting whether to put them in a home or employ an in-house care worker. This article will discuss some of the reasons why live-in care is a much better alternative to residential home care.

Benefits of Live-In Care Providers

Independent – Having a live-in carer helps your family member to still feel independent and not controlled by structure or format like they’d encounter in a nursing home. They can still wander around the home and garden without be restricted by the rules of the care home, they’ll have a greater level of freedom when assisted by an in-house care worker.

Familiar Surroundings – Employing an in-house carer from reputable organisations like Consultus Care means you can keep your loved one in a familiar setting. As we age, we tend to suffer from memory loss and things can get overwhelming at times, especially if the early stages of Dementia or Alzheimer’s is beginning. You want loved ones to feel comfortable and relaxed, so it is vital to keep them in a place they are accustomed to. If they become anxious or irritable, it is easier to keep them relaxed if they’re surrounded by familiar features such as garden furniture or their favourite armchair.

Accessible – One of the main benefits of choosing a live-in care worker is that your loved one is still easily accessible to all the family. Everyone feels comfortable going to your grandfather or grandmother’s home, but may not be the case when it comes to residential nursing homes. A lot of family members are reluctant to visit these places and the person who is in the home tends to suffer.

Disadvantages of Residential Nursing Homes

Lack of Privacy – If you decide to leave your loved one in a residential nursing home, you take away their privacy. You put them in a new, unfamiliar environment that can often be noisy and frightful. There can be other residents in the home who are challenging to deal with and they may have a negative impact on your loved one.

High Employee Turnover Levels – It is important to build a bond between your loved one and their care worker. This is easily done when they are employed as live-in carers, but not so easily achieved in a residential nursing home. Staff turnover is usually high in residential care homes, so just as your family member builds some sort of positive relationship with a member of staff, they tend to leave, and that bond is immediately lost.

Choosing to leave a family member or loved one in the comfort of their own home while hiring assistance is a better alternative to putting them in a residential nursing home. They feel more at ease in familiar settings and it doesn’t affect their level of privacy. They also have time to form positive bonds with their in-house care workers.