Many people considering care for their elderly loved one in their homes often have to decide whether they need “stay-out” care, meaning, the caregiver visits daily, or “live-in” care, where the caregiver lives in the home. How do you decide? Well, in some cases it’s obvious: you work during the day and you can’t leave your elderly loved one at home alone. In other cases, it might not be as obvious. Generally, having a caregiver visit on a daily basis whether it’s a few hours or even 8-12 hours, is often for people who just need someone to watch their elderly during the day. Oftentimes, your loved one isn’t ill but just getting older and frail, and needs a little bit of help. For these reasons, a stay-out caregiver may be fine for you.
If you do some research, you’ll often find that the cost difference between hiring a stay-out caregiver and a live-in caregiver is not all that different. A live-in caregiver is usually hired when:
- The loved one is living alone, perhaps in another city or village from their family members.
- The loved one is just too frail to be left alone, even in the nighttime.
- The loved one has a long-term illness such as Dementia or Parkinson’s or cancer and cannot be left alone at any hour.
- The loved one lives with one of his or children but there are grandkids living at home too and it’s just too much to look after the elderly person and all of the children.
What then, should you be prepared to do, if you wish to hire a live-in caregiver?
- Have a separate room for the caregiver or at least a good bed in the room with your loved one available for the caregiver’s use. Unless it’s a really nice sofa bed, you shouldn’t have your caregiver sleep on one, particularly in the living room. The caregiver deserves some privacy too.
- Decide how you want to handle the caregiver’s meals. He or she may want to cook–perhaps in conjunction with the preparing the loved one’s food–or the caregiver may be willing to eat the food you have prepared for your family. It’s important to work this out in advance with the caregiver.
- Note that the caregiver is not working 24-hours because he or she is living in your home. The caregiver needs rest too, particularly when dealing with ill or challenging loved ones. Yes, if the loved one needs help during the night, the caregiver will assist their patient but the caregiver should have at least 8 hours of sleep each night and should be given at least one day off.
Only you can decide, based on your particular circumstances, whether you need to hire a stay-out or live-in caregiver. However, they may be some benefits to hiring a live-in caregiver even if you think that initially, you only need stay-out care:
- By living-in, your caregiver will get to your loved one better.
- The caregiver can handle any issues that arise night and day, letting you focus on the other things you need to do, and getting more rest.
- If your loved one has an illness that will likely progress over time, a good caregiver will be better able to help your loved one if she is available during most hours of the day.
- You’ll avoid paying for the caregiver’s daily travel expenses which over time, can add up.
- You’ll have a better idea of how your caregiver is working out and how your loved one is doing by seeing your caregiver at work when you are at home.
Whatever you think is best, of course, it is your choice. However, if you have concerns or are unsure, let us help you determine what type of caregiver is best. We have seen almost every situation you can imagine. Fill in this quick form and we’ll get right back to you: https://www.pillarcare.com/elderly-care or text/WhatsApp/call at: +6018-2209030 or call to our hotline: +603-29359960
