How’s Professional Care different from Family Care?

As soon as the effects of aging start showing in the behaviour of our elderly parents, we understand that they need care. But assessing which type of care is best for them, professional care or personal care, can be a challenge. Usually, caring for parents in their senior years starts with providing some amount of assistance in their daily living. This might include driving them for doctor visits, getting some safety equipment installed in their home, or shifting them in your own home to help them with daily tasks like cooking, taking medication, and exercising.

Caring yourself can be very tiring as it involves a lot of investment in terms of time and effort. However, the invaluable amount of comfort, trust and familiarity that personal interaction (involved with personal caregiving) can give to your parents, cannot be given to them otherwise.

But the time to bring a professional caregiver into the picture comes packed with a lot of obligatory planning, and can be a rollercoaster of emotions. Opting for a professional caregiving service is an overwhelming step, but unavoidable if higher level of care is required by the aging dependent. It is a lot more comprehensive service that doesn’t involve giving up on your life, the way personally caring for parents involves. But yes, this option can be a financial burden for a huge section of caregivers.

Let’s understand how personal care is different from professional care at the basic level!

Personal Care

If your parents are in the pink of their health, it’s more likely that they will feel more comfortable at home than in a ‘home’. In such a case, caring for parents at your own home is the perfect answer. For this, you can even hire a home-care service that allows professional caregivers to attend to the needs of your loved ones at your home. The services offered by these professional caregivers usually include home nursing, homemaking and home-caring.

Professional Care

Depending upon the level of care, accommodation and support required by your senior parents, you can assess which of the following professional care options is good for you:

Independent Living

If independence is something your parents cannot compromise on, independent living option is just the right choice. Not only does it include access to almost all kinds of supportive services, but also offers the common amenities provided at a regular retirement residence.

Assisted Living

If your parents need a type of care that boldly comprises of services around housing, healthcare and personalised supportive services, opting for an assisted living facility can be really helpful. This home-like care is the perfect solution for assistance in everyday activities like bathing, eating and medication.

Congregate Care Housing

This type of caregiving facility is a cluster of in-home care and a nursing home. Residents can avail services like cleaning, house maintenance and group meals, while living in the comfort of their own private room. The staff is responsible to provide them adequate care to make their everyday living easier.

Hospice Care

If you are caring for parents in a personal home-like setting and they are suffering from a terminal or a life-threatening illness, you can choose hospice care. A range of professional volunteers like doctors, therapists and nurses provide this type of care on a non-profit or charitable basis.

There might be cases where you need to club two or more of these professional care services to cater to your parents’ care and wellbeing. To make an informed decision regarding the type of care that can justify your medical, emotional and financial situation, it’s better to consult a case manager. Most of the reputed caregiving service providers offer the assistance of a case manager to setup a care plan that best suits your individual requirements.

Remember, opting for professional care is not a one-time decision. With small measures like visiting your parents regularly when they are living in a care home, you can make a lot of positive difference in their healing journey. Having a sound relationship with your parent’s regular caregivers is also very important to keep abreast with their progress. Whichever care you choose for your loving parents, just try to get involved with all your heart. If they have trouble walking, support them with the same zeal with which they once taught you how to walk.