Considering senior care options from a distance

My father will be turning 80 years old in a few months and has been showing signs of short-term memory loss for some time now. He lives alone and although his physical health is good, I am worried that he may somehow jeopardize his safety because of his increasingly acute forgetfulness. Unfortunately, we live many hundreds of miles apart so it’s not possible for me to monitor his daily activities. We do speak frequently by phone but this sometimes heightens my concern that all is not well with his aging mind.

My situation is surely not unique as it has become clearly commonplace in recent decades for people to necessarily relocate virtually anywhere career requirements dictate. I can only assume that this trend has left large numbers of elderly people with fewer nearby family members to rely upon for overseeing their well-being and helping to deal with life’s daily issues. Whereas in the “old days” an aging family member would likely be taken in and cared for by relatives, life in modern society has sadly made that scenario less feasible.

Some parts of the country, such as metro Denver, are seemingly quite progressive when it comes to in home senior care. Other, more “traditional” locations like western Pennsylvania where my father lives are perhaps not as fortunate. It is my belief that placing him in a nursing home would be tantamount to compromising his dignity. Ultimately it may come to that, and of course assisted living facilities do have their place. It is the transition period from self-reliance to total dependence that concerns me - those months or years when the services of a reliable in home senior care service would be invaluable.

By what criteria does one select in  home senior care, especially when the senior care selection process may have to be performed from a distance?

Eric B.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 2:05 am and is filed under Caregiving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.