With Home Care Assistance For Elderly Temple Texas Citizens Retain Their Dignity

By Barbara Davis


People now live longer than ever before. Many older people lead full and active lives, but their are also many that become infirm with age, unable to manage their everyday lives in the way that they used to. Such people often need help in order to cope. The level and type of help that they need depends upon the severity of and reasons for their infirmity. Home care assistance for elderly Temple Texas citizens is one of the very best ways to help them whilst allowing them to remain independent.

Most people do not want to dwell on the possibility that they can become frail, weak and ill to the extent where they cannot survive without help. The very idea of being forced to depend upon a stranger to provide help is humiliating and even scary. This is even more so the case if the help required include very private services such as washing oneself, dressing and getting in and out of bed.

A lot of older people blithely expect their family to look after them when they become frail or ill. This is not a realistic expectation, however. In most families both parents have to work and nobody has the time or skills to look after the needs of an infirm older relative. If such a situation is forced it may lead to stress, resentment and unhealthy feelings of guilt.

More than 80 per cent of people older than 60 will, at some time, require help. In some cases this may only be on a temporary basis, while recovering from an illness or injury, for example. In many cases, however, the help will be needed for the rest of the life of the patient. The bad news is that medical insurance does not cover the cost of long term personal care.

Sadly, medical insurance will only cover the cost of temporary help by a caregiver. There are, however, specially designed insurance schemes that specifically cater for the cost of long term live in caregivers. Such insurance should be considered by every citizen. The cost of the policy is really not comparable with the inconvenience and lack of privacy inherent to living in an institution.

Experts in the field of elderly care all agree that, if it is possible, an infirm older person be allowed to stay in his own house for as long as it is possible. A live in caregiver can take responsibility for those tasks that the older person can no longer manage, but this does not mean that the patient loses control over his own routine or that he is no longer able to make decisions.

The appointment of a caregiver should be undertaken with great circumspect. It is vital to insist upon valid references and to follow them up. The caregiver should be experienced in looking after patients with needs similar to the loved one in question. The exact duties of the caregiver should be detailed in a written contract and it may be wise to insist upon a trial period.

It has been proven that older people living in institutions are often desperately lonely, dissatisfied with life and often depressed. Families with older relatives that need personal help should do everything they can to keep the relative ensconced in their own homes. They are happier and they can often continue to lead full and independent lives.




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