Did you know that there are millions of unpaid caregivers in the senior care industry? But these caregivers don’t work in nursing homes orAssisted Living Communities. They are people like me and you, taking care of our loved ones independently. When it comes to the normal day to day aspect of caregiving we have everything under control. But what about those special times when we might have a business trip for work or you are in need of a well deserved vacation. What do you do with your loved one?
This exact situation occurred in my household. After getting into the schedule of taking care of my grandmother, things were becoming less hectic and more fluid. Until the decision came upon us to take a trip to LasVegas. Immediately the first question that was purposed was, where was my grandmother going to go. We obliviously couldn’t leave her at home, and her Home Care nurse was only available for the day. So once again we dug into research on what to do. Their were some options such as adult day care, where they supervise your loved one during the day time, but then again someone had to pick her up in the evening. We then stumbled upon respite care. Respite care is short term or temporary care designed for families with handicapped or ill elders. There are many respite care programs to choose from such as:
In home respite care– where a worker completes care services in your home for the entire time you areaway
Respite housing– short term stay at a community that has staff on board to care for your love done while your away.
Recreational respite– this option gives seniors a chance to be more active, by going on trips to events, movies, restaurants, etc.
In our situation we agreed upon a combination of two options, which was the in home respite care and the respite housing. Since we were only going to be gone for a few days we did in home services for a day and respite housing for the following days. After this was agreed upon we had to speak with my grandmother to make sure she was comfortable with the situation in its entirety. We did not want it to seem like we were abandoning her and make her feel uncomfortable. After the situation was explained we took her to a few respite care communities and she picked her favorite. In all after our trip, she enjoyed her stay in the community.
When picking what option is best for you research is always a must! Also some insurance plans cover fees for respite care programs. If you have the opportunity to show your loved one the community in advance, you should. By doing this it can make them feel a little more at ease. This can also be helpful if you need to move your loved one to a community in the future. If they have already seen the residence they can be at ease and comfortable, which makes things easier.