Trusted Personal Care Advice

When it comes time to decide how to care for an aging parent or loved one, fully understanding your options is key. Do you choose a Personal Care Community or do you care for your family member at home?

Although some families home care, in the beginning it can be difficult to predict how much of a time commitment providing care can be. And family members often find they quickly transition from being a son or daughter to becoming responsible for home upkeep, dispensing medication and taking care of their loved one’s personal needs. To help you make an informed choice, consider these statistics:

The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP found:

  • Family caregivers spend an average of 24.4 hours per week providing care
  • Nearly 1 in 4 caregivers spends 41 hours or more per week

A Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found, on average, caregivers spend:

  • 13 days each month on tasks such as shopping, food preparation, housekeeping, laundry, transportation, and giving medication
  • 6 days per month on feeding, dressing, grooming, walking, bathing and assistance toileting
  • 13 hours per month researching care services or information on disease, coordinating physician visits or managing financial matters

According to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP:

  • The average duration of a caregiver’s role is 4 years
  • Only 30% of caregivers provide care for less than a year
  • 24% of caregivers provide care for more than 5 years
  • 15% of caregivers provide care for 10 or more years.

The estimated lost income and benefits over a caregiver’s lifetime ranges from a total of $283,716 for men to $324,044 for women, or an average of $303,880.

On the other hand, choosing a Personal Care Community can help you transition out of the caregiver role and allow you to focus on building and enjoying the son/daughter relationship with your parent. While it’s a choice that can come with a lot of benefits for your loved one like better health and nutrition options and increased opportunities for socialization it can also come with feelings of caretaker guilt. You can gain insights from one daughter’s choice with her mother here.

You can find information on determining if a Personal Care Community makes sense for your loved one here.

If you’d like to discuss your options in more depth, fill out the Contact Us form on this page, or call us at 484.577.3515.

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