Putting Elderly Parents in Anursing Home Essay

There will almost absolutely come a day when your parents will need you. When this time comes, they will probably not admit that they need you or anyone else for that matter, but in reality, they will definitely need someone. If you look back to your childhood it’s quite similar to those days they had to care for you. They took care of your every need from bathing, feeding and dressing you appropriately. Those days you may not remember as well as they do but they happened. The days that they were responsible for you, unfortunately now they need the same care that they provided for you so long ago. So what are your options you say? Put them in a nursing home where you’ll take the chance they may be cared for properly? Chances are every time they have to use the bathroom or need assistance their going to have to press a help button and wait. Wow, they just became a number in someone’s eye and honestly how degrading can that be. The clear option for so many reasons would be to keep them at home and care for them as they did you. So with a firm standing putting your elderly parent in a nursing home is by far the worst option compared to keeping them at home. The average cost of putting an elderly parent in a nursing home verses keeping them at home is by far reason in itself. Deciding to keep you elderly parent at home verses a nursing home is an easy choice once you weigh the factors in of their independence, the cost and by far their love for u and your love for them. Are you ready to choose? This day it’s almost an inevitable choice that you’re going to have to make rather you want to or not. Do you have a clue what this involves? The bottom line is if you choose not to be there you’re given up that last chance you’ll ever have to be there for them. The normal stay in a nursing home is an average of just 2. 4 years. The average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home in the United States is $70,080 a year, or $192 a day. The average cost of a semi private room is $169 a day, or $61,685 a year. [ (Elder law answers website, 2008) ] Wow, now can you just see their life saving dwindling. I can say after being a nursing assistant employed in the nursing home setting for seventeen years now. That I can tell you I’ve heard it endless times form my elderly residents in the nursing home, how they worked hard all their life and for what? To live out their golden years watching everything they worked for go to their care. Needless to say it’s heartbreaking for those who have to watch it and those experiencing it. It’s hard enough for them to except the care they now need. But really to watch their whole life savings disappear for the need to survive every day. On so many levels it’s completely wrong and not fair. It’s hard to accept and realize that they’re hurting a lot more than you are and a lot more than their probably ever going to tell you they are. But they made great sacrifices and tremendous efforts to make your life relatively easy when you were growing up; the least they deserve now is to have a life that is comparably comfortable as they live out their golden years without having to watch their life’s work go down the drain. The average daily cost of keeping your elderly parent at home is far less than you would expect. There are so many options out there to help them stay home. If your elderly parent remains home they still have so many options available to help keep as much as their independence as possible. Home health care services are available in almost any area and provide supervised personnel care to help them with either health needs or their daily activities of living. Meals and transportation are also available to help retain independence. Home delivered meal programs can help ensure a proper diet for them. Adult day care and hospice are also options to help retain your elderly parent at home. Respite care is also available to you. They will send a trained person to care for your loved one so that you can run errands or take a vacation and have the break you may need [ (new york Life , October) ]. So with many options to help retain your loved one at home it’s easy to see the benefits of keeping them at home as long as possible once you have assessed the cost to do so. The daily average cost of keeping a loved one at home with a paid caregiver is an average of $96. 0 dollars a day and an average of $34,560 dollars a year [ (Kobrin, 2009) ]. Compared to a nursing home this is by far the cheaper option. But still with adding in the other options listed above this can be even cheaper if you do your research for your local area. By being head smart you can keep your elderly parent at home without watching everything they’ve worked for go down the drain. In ending choosing to keep your elderly parent at home is more than the right choice. In the long run it’s going to save them money and prolong their independence as long as possible. This is also your chance to give back to them all that you can for everything they did to support and raise you. It’s your turn now to make that right choice. By keeping them at home they’ll be much happier and so will you. This is their golden years! So let them shine as there suppose to. Do this by keeping them at home and showing them the respect they completely deserve. In doing this you will be letting them keep their independence and the life that they’re use to for as long as possible.