The term aging-in-place is confusing despite having been around since the beginning of time. The concept is pretty basic but people struggle to understand what it means or whether it is indeed possible for them. We lost our focus when it became the norm for older people to move into retirement homes and just fade away. Well, we aren’t into fading away anymore and we are more into wanting to do thing our way. Today, our way means we want to stay in our own homes, but we still haven’t figured out how to make this happen if we start slipping a little.
Ultimately your health is going to be the determining factor, but if you could receive care in your own home wouldn’t you want to stay there? The trouble is money. People who don’t think twice about selling their house and moving into a care facility will balk at the idea of spending a few bucks for home care. Think it through. New studies show that home care is less expensive in the long run.
We all want to be healthy and independent during our senior years. John Schieszer writing about how aging in place may be optimal (Northwest Prime Time: February/March 2012) examined the differences between the traditional model of care and the aging-in place-model. I liked what he had to say and his material was backed up by a similar article found in the Targeted News Service: Washington, D.C. (March 1, 2011). Articles written for senior publications always make a lot of sense to me and I never fail to pick up a copy. The conventional model forces older adults to leave their homes to move into senior housing, into assisted care facilities and eventually into nursing homes as their health and function decline. The Aging-in-place model provides services and care to meet increasing needs in the home. The key here is that aging-in-place does not mean that you have to go it alone.
The goal, of course, of both models is to restore and maintain people at the highest level possible. Yes, there are actually people trained to coordinate home care. There are care managers, personal health care managers and nursing care coordinators trained to keep you right where you are as long as possible. People do better at home. It is as simple as that. Services are added or subtracted as your current level of care changes. The idea is to monitor for changes, provide prompt intervention and return you to your previous level of health. Deciding to stay in your own home does not mean that you are expected to manage everything on your own.
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