Aging In Place

4/14/2015 | By Seniors Guide Staff

The Truth About Home Care
Many people don’t understand what home care is. Those who do often have a lot of misconceptions. Let’s put some of those misconceptions and myths to rest.

1) Home Care is Expensive

This is the most common misconception about home care. Most clients receive about 20 hours of care per week. That’s a cost of about $400/week, or $1600/month. When we compare that to the cost of an assisted living facility here in the triangle (starting at $3000 per month), we can see that it is a cost-effective, affordable option. On top of that, Home Care is one-on-one care.

2) Home Care means full-time, around the clock care

Nope. The national average for the number of hours is 20 hours per week. Many of our clients receive 10-15 hours per week of care, and some receive less than that.

3) You have to pay for blocks of time

Not necessarily. We use telephony for time cards, so we only bill for actual time worked.

4) I’ll have to worry about someone showing up to work

That’s why an agency is great. We make sure that the caregiver shows up, or we get someone else out there. The great thing about telephony is, we know whether the caregiver has checked in or not.

5) I have to put up with someone I don’t care for taking care of me

Not at all! We carefully match caregivers and clients, taking preferences and personalities of both the client and caregiver into consideration. If a relationship doesn’t work out for whatever reason, we replace the caregiver immediately.

6) The agency is going to send the first person available to work the shift

Actually we won’t, because we know it won’t work well, and the client will be unhappy. We try to keep the caregiver consistent with a client, and we realize that fit is critical to keeping everyone happy.

7) I can’t use an agency if I want to manage the caregiver myself

If you prefer to take on the responsibilities of managing an independent caregiver, you can find candidates through a caregiver registry. You may pay a bit less, because the caregiver is essentially self-employed and is an independent contractor. You’ll have to shoulder responsibilities such as supervision and finding a replacement caregiver if yours doesn’t show up for work, though.

8) I can’t use Home Care if I’m in a senior community, and I’m sure I won’t need it

Actually, many of our clients are in independent and assisted living communities. We’ve even had clients in skilled nursing facilities. Sometimes clients want or need more care than their current living arrangement provides. Home Care is available to you wherever you are when you need it.

9) Nobody can take care of Mom the way I can

Actually, I was pretty shocked by the amazing level of care my dad received from certain providers. We were able to lay out an entire schedule for the day that those caregivers followed to a T. They were completely loyal to him and meticulous about his care. I believe that enabled him to live years longer than he might have otherwise. I will say, they were able to provide a better level of care than I ever could have on my own.

10) They won’t do housework

A large part of Home Care is doing housework: meal preparation, laundry, cleaning, taking out the garbage, shopping, and those sorts of chores. Our caregivers even fed the cats, cleaned the litter box, took Dad to doctor appointments, and picked up prescriptions for him. It is amazing just HOW much help you can get from home care!

Seniors Guide Staff

Seniors Guide has been addressing traditional topics and upcoming trends in the senior living industry since 1999. We strive to educate seniors and their loved ones in an approachable manner, and aim to provide them with the right information to make the best decisions possible.

Seniors Guide Staff