How To Care For Aging Parents - Living Arrangements Or Housing Choices
As your parents become much older in life, the time will come where you need to start thinking about where they’ll live when they become too old to live alone. Many parents and adult children alike however, don’t like the idea of nursing home living.
It’s not uncommon for senior citizens to be healthy and active for many years even after it’s no longer safe or practical for them to live alone, and nursing home living is not usually needed for those aging parents who still live active and somewhat independent lifestyles.
Thankfully, there are many alternative living options your parents will enjoy instead of nursing homes. Which living option you choose should be a joint decision between the two of you though. If your parents are not incapacitated enough to need nursing home living arrangement, then they have the right to at least participate in the decisions about where and how they will live.
According to the Administration on Aging, the number of senior citizens will more than double by the year 2030. Thanks to advancements in modern medicine, they estimate we’ll have at least 70 million senior citizens in the U.S. by the year 2030. Because of this though, many communities have started looking at alternative housing options designed specifically for the needs of this aging population.
One example of nursing home alternatives for senior citizens is retirement living communities which have staff on hand twenty four hours a day in case of an emergency. Some of these communities have special features such as a communal dining and recreation area, while others have fully in dependant apartments or town homes instead.
Another popular nursing home alternative for aging parents and their adult children is more of a family living arrangement. In some cases, the adult children will place a secondary small living space on their own property for their parents to live in. These secondary housing unit might be small modular homes, site built cottage or guest house style dwellings, and even Recreational Vehicles.
With this arrangement - often referred to as ECHO housing - the aging parents are still able to live independently, while at the same time having loved family members close by for company, recreation, help, or in the case of emergencies.
Other families prefer to have their aging parents actually live with them in their home, but instead of simply giving them a bedroom, they create a full apartment contained within the home. The parents may live in an apartment above the garage for instance, or in a refinished basement designed specifically for them.
Some aging parents insist on living out their lives in their own homes though, and this is doable in most cases too - particularly if the parent stays fairly healthy and active all their lives. In these cases, most adult children simply hire a part time or full time caregiver to help their parents in their own home.
For a time, the adult child can provide the part time care themselves, visiting several times each week to help with errands, cleaning and laundry for instance. Over time though, it’s usually more helpful to hire someone that can perform these tasks regularly, and eventually you’ll want to consider getting a live in caretaker as well, so that someone is always around for your aging parent if an emergency arises.
Looking for more information on Aging Parents and their Care YourLifeAfter50.com is an authoritive site for baby-boomers and issues that affect them.
Tags: aging parent, Elder care, eldercare, life after 50, senior care
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