When a loved one is no longer able to care for themselves due to sickness or old age, determining how to look after them can be difficult. Here are some of possible routes you may wish to take and the factors that need to considered.
Becoming a carer yourself
Some people will take the decision to become a carer themselves. This may require them moving in with you if they currently live too far away for you to regularly visit. There are grants out there for carers that may also allow you to reduce your hours.
Take time to research the care that you must provide. An occupational therapist may be able to help with this. You may need to make some home conversions to make living easier for them. Sites such as foremostequipment.com sell monitoring equipment that may be useful if they are bedridden. You may also need to buy bed lifts for such an occasion. If they are more mobile, consider features such as grab bars, stairlifts, walk-in showers and ramps for wheelchairs. Grants for such disability home conversions are also available.
Being a full time carer can be physically and mentally demanding and as important as it is to care for their needs, you need to also care for yourself. It’s not uncommon for those doing their own caring to hire part-time carers once a week or to help with morning and evening routine just to offer some respite.
Employing a carer
Employing a carer will work out more expensive but it may allow you to continue with your own responsibilities. You need to decide whether care is needed on a part-time or full-time basis. Full-time care is harder to come by, so many will opt for a part-time care plan. If your loved one is unable to make the decision for themselves, you can interview multiple carers to get an idea of the one that you think will be best suited for the job. You can go private or you can go through a government led scheme (although your loved one may need to meet certain criteria for this one).
Finding a care home
Care homes can be equally expensive and many wrongly associate them with deflecting responsibility of their loved ones onto someone else. However, in many situations they can be a sensible option, giving your loved one around-the-clock professional care and a social setting. Care homes will vary in price, so it’s always good to do some shopping around. Quality will also vary and it’s important to get the right vibes and see how the staff and residents are interacting. You can visit a care home as often as you’d like. There are systems out there to help with care home funding, which may make it less of a financial burden. There are even systems out there that allow someone to stay in a home a few days a week, or on a temporary basis.