When it becomes apparent that a loved one can no longer live alone, some changes must be made. The question is, what sort of changes are necessary? One of the most practical ways to proceed is to seek help from one of the local care management services and come up with a workable plan. Here are some of the ways that a professional service will make a difference.
Assessing Needs
There’s more than one type of assisted care. How do you know which one is the right choice? Beginning with a structured assessment of your loved one’s abilities and needs is a smart move.
A professional will know how to carry out this type of assessment. When it’s over, there will be a complete profile that provides the basis for what will happen next. Best of all, the assessment takes everything into consideration; nothing that’s relevant to your loved one’s care is overlooked.
Identifying Services to Meet Those Needs
With the assessment results completed, it’s possible to match support services with those specific needs. This will make it all the easier to determine what sort of assistance would strike a balance between ensuring your loved one can continue to do what is within his or her ability and what sort of tasks will require assistance.
The result may be that the solution for your loved one is to continue living in the home but have a caregiver present for most of the day. It could also mean having a live-in caregiver. In some cases, moving to a facility that offers more comprehensive assistance might be the option. It all depends on what needs are present and how they can be met to the benefit of your loved one.
Allocating Resources to Meet The Needs
At this juncture, experts with care management services will help define the resources needed to ensure that your loved one gets the care necessary. If there is long-term care insurance in place, it will likely cover a good bit of the expense. When that’s not the case, there are other approaches that may work. An expert will be aware of all avenues to explore.
This is especially important if there are worries about how to afford the care. It’s possible that your loved one may qualify for some sort of benefits that take care of all or most of the cost. The only way to know for sure is to ask.
Ongoing Refinement of How Those Needs Are Met
Assessing needs is not a one-and-done event. Instead, it’s a process that will continue into the future. As the circumstances of your loved one change, there will be a need to take a fresh look at the type of care that’s in place and determine if it still meets those needs. If so, then nothing has to change. Should there be new factors to consider, then changes are in order.
The goal is always to ensure that your loved one has the best care. If that means home care is no longer viable, then plans can be made to move into an assisted living facility. Through it all, you can be assured of receiving advice that’s in the best interests of your loved one.
If the time has come to seek care for a loved one, talk with the representative of a service today. What you learn may be the start of making sure that your loved one has the best of care from this day forward.