Most families consider medical care to be related to the transition of aging adults to nursing homes. Most families consider medical diagnoses to be the issue, and their treatment.

The answer provided by researchers, though? Not so much.

The factors that keep a senior at home for as long as possible tend not to be related to a medical diagnosis. They tend to be more related to the ability to assist with daily living needs.

In examining characteristics that lend themselves to a successful aging at home, the highest ticket items on the list tend to be the amount of help in the home. It’s less about who shows up to check on your medical concerns, and more about who helps you with your laundry and keeps your kitchen clean and organized so that you can continue to live successfully at home.

The Value of a Clean Home

A maintained and clean home aids in avoiding a variety of issues that usually plague aging seniors who live at home. Clean floors help prevent falls. A clean kitchen helps continue cooking; once it becomes too chaotic, cooking becomes impossible. Having clean sheets and a clean bathroom helps prevent illnesses caused by infections that become easier to contract as people get older.

Household chores become increasingly difficult to manage for people in their 70s and 80s. Vacuuming is hard on the balance. Changing sheets is increasingly difficult when it becomes harder to move with ease. Washing one dish can become next to impossible when every movement in a senior is met with pain caused by arthritis.

Once the chores start to pile up, though, it begins to make the house unsafe. Once someone lives in an unsafe environment, that is when the talk about moving into a nursing home usually begins.

Many families find that Housekeeping for Seniors in Philadelphia helps address all of these issues at once. Seniors can stay in their own home, and still have a safe place to live without entering a nursing home.

Isolation Increases the Need for Nursing Homes

Isolation is another factor that causes seniors to enter nursing homes before they necessarily want to. A senior who sees another human once a day (rather than another pet) is going to be healthier and will live independently for longer. They will remember to take their medications regularly. They will remember to go through their routine for the day, they will eat better meals, and they will notice when something changes with their health before it becomes a huge concern.

Surprisingly, the person who comes in to help keep the household clean often becomes a friend to these seniors. They notice when the aging adult is feeling down or when they are having trouble walking or progressing in their aging. A routine becomes established, things come up in discussion, and issues are caught before they become life-threatening.

Interestingly enough, research indicates that seniors who socialized experienced less cognitive decline, and actually can use socialization as a way to lower feelings of depression. They have something to look forward to every day; they have a routine again; and they have someone to talk to without judgment about any aspect of their lives.

Preventative Care Helps Aging Seniors Stay Healthy

Most transitions to a nursing home occur due to a series of small events rather than one large event that typically causes an aging adult to leave their homes behind.

Tending to “small issues” helps everyone avoid an issue that becomes catastrophic in nature, preventing seniors from living independently in their own homes. Small issues become catastrophes over time. It’s those “small issues” that help create this inability over time.

If a senior stops washing their clothes, they will eventually have nothing to wear, and they will no longer leave the house. If they stop cleaning their bathroom, they may develop a pattern of getting a urinary tract infection that never clears. And if the aging senior cannot make a meal at all, they can’t access any food even if someone provided groceries.

Instead of relying upon non-professionals in the family who may struggle with how to help address a situation without help from other family members, any “crisis” situation that develops can be solved by professionals if it is caught early enough.

In-Home Assistance is Affordable

Financial issues cause families to often struggle deciding upon nursing home placements for their aging relatives. However, costs associated with nursing homes tend to supersede those associated with care provided at home. Nursing homes can cost families anywhere from $7,000-$10,000 per month (and sometimes more), depending upon the aging relatives’ needs.

Cost of in-home assistance is significantly less than that spent in nursing homes; even if care is completed several times a week.

Families don’t have to give up anything just because they might want to hire additional in-home assistance. Care can be done here and there rather than being an all-or-nothing approach. Families do not have to feel guilty if they want to be there but cannot be by hiring this type of assistance.

Families actually have choice when it comes to gaining assistance that can be done periodically rather than being tied into an arrangement with a nursing home that feels more “set in stone.” The aging adult in the family does not have to feel like they are being forced into an environment that causes them to be dependent upon others.

What Families Can Do Now

The best time to receive help around the house is before someone needs nursing care rather than assistance at home. One of the worst things families can do is wait until someone is in crisis mode. Waiting until this time makes it hard for everyone involved; and makes it more difficult to solve the problems at hand.

Signs that someone may need help with aging at home can vary from individual to individual. It can be waiting too long to complete laundry at home, or it can be difficulty washing the dishes that left piles of dishes to mold and stink in the kitchen.

It can mean that someone has grown dust bunnies everywhere in the corners; or it can mean everyone has expired food in every section of the refrigerator.

Families who have loved ones aging at home need to recognize this time rather than toss it to the side as unwillingness on behalf of their loved ones; or laziness.

Aging at home requires strategizing and realizing what should happen in the home ideally before entering a nursing home. Those who age well at home notice this early-on, but still need assistance with certain elements of their daily lives.