Deciding to find in-home care for one loved one, and then actually finding that care, can be overwhelming. So, it seems it would be doubly difficult to do so for a couple. Often, in-home care is associated with the patient being singular, because the in-home care assists with things that the patient cannot do alone. But even when another person is in the home, that does not necessarily mean that care is not needed and that either of the two people are in the condition to help themselves, let alone the other person.
Having in-home care for a couple seems daunting. Is it twice the price? What if your parents each have a different condition? Dale Anderson is president of the Tacoma, Washington branch of Right At Home (RAH) in-home care. He understands that finding the right care for one parent can be difficult enough, and for both can seem that much harder. So, he and that staff at RAH aim to offer you and your parents a pleasant experience that gets both of them the care they need, at a cost you can afford.
The first step is to figure out what kind of care each of your parents need. You might think if the care is different, you will need two caregivers, but this is not necessarily so. The staff at RAH is trained to handle many services. So, there is a good chance that the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who will be helping your mother with housework is qualified to help your disabled father safely move around the house.
The safest decision is to accommodate the needs of the parent with a more serious condition. For example, perhaps your mother in fact does only need the care of a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) because perhaps she has advanced rheumatoid arthritis and doesn’t get around well. Your father, however, has Alzheimer’s, and needs a registered nurse (RN) to monitor him and respond to an emergencies. What should you do? It is best to choose to have an RN as the caregiver instead of the CNA. A RN can handle your father’s difficulties, but is also trained to provide assistance with more basic duties for your mother. This is thanks to agencies like RAH that train even RNs when they join the staff, to make sure that every nurse and assistant can perform the highest level of quality care. By hiring a caregiver that matches the higher needs of both your parents, you ensure that both of them are completely safe and well cared for at all times.
Agencies like RAH realize that the financial burden of in-home care for one person is great enough, so for two people, the cost could be downright unaffordable. But in-home care is not a luxury. It is necessary for the health of your parents. No one should be denied this care because of financial issues. You shouldn’t have to choose one parent that gets tended to, or have no care for either of them. That’s why a discount is offered for couples care to make sure that both of your parents get the care they need. The agency believes that, especially in live-in care situations, the caregiver is working harder for two people instead of one, but still caring for one home. This is how the agency can offer the discount, one that can really help your family feel at ease.
