In the last two blog posts, we talked about Rob Lowe’s recent article in USA Today and his revelation that he was a caregiver for his mother who had stage IV cancer. In our first post, we discussed the desire for most Americans to age in place and not go to a nursing home. Unfortunately, most are unable to do that because they haven’t planned how to pay for it. In our second post, we addressed the need for caregivers to take care of themselves. We offered a resource for caregivers that can help them ensure their loved ones are taken care of and help relieve some of the burden on the caregiver. This post we are going to look again at the desire to stay at home, but instead we are going to look at the logistics – is home actually a suitable place to stay?
There are many things to look at when deciding whether to age in place. One of the first things to consider is if you are in an area that you want to live. Did you always want to be near the mountains? Maybe now is time to look at moving near (or away from) the kids. Are you interested in attending college classes?
Once you’ve looked at the big picture of where you want to be, look at the area. How close are you to the grocery store? Church? Do you have access to a pool or golf course, if either of those are your thing? If you’ve been living in the same place for a while, has the neighborhood changed in a way you aren’t exactly excited about?
Then, look at the home itself – are there steps or stairs that would make it difficult to get into the house? How wide are the doors? Are they wide enough for a wheel chair? Can you get in and out of the house or in and out of the bathroom in a wheel chair if one is necessary in the future? Is the bedroom on the first floor? Are there enough grab bars in the bathroom and anywhere else they might be needed? Are they strong enough?
There are a lot more considerations for aging at home than just deciding that you don’t want to go into a nursing home. If you need help looking at this, give us a call at (214) 292-4225 and we can help point you in the right direction.