It is not easy when you realize that one of your parents is unable to take care of themselves. If they are single or widowed, it can be even more challenging. They do not have a life partner who can help them with the daily activities of living. And since you are working most of the day, you are not there to help them either.

But you sat down with your parent and you both concluded that an assisted living facility was not an option. They do not want to move and you do not want them far away in some strange place, where they do not know anyone. You would much rather have them stay at home.

Now you must decide what type of care your loved one needs. We will break down some of the situations for you right now.

Activities of Daily Living

Whenever you speak with a medical professional about senior care, they will talk to you about the ADLs, or the activities of daily living. These activities include taking a shower, dressing themselves, eating food, going to the bathroom, grooming, brushing their teeth and getting around the house.

If you have a parent or elderly loved one who is not able to perform one or more of these activities on their own, they need a professional who can help. Depending on the specifics, you may not need a registered nurse. A home health care professional is the individual you will need to find.

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

There are other activities such as housekeeping, doing laundry, changing the sheets, shopping for groceries, getting around the city, preparing meals and managing medication that also fall into daily living activities.

But these are not as fundamental as the ones mentioned earlier. If your loved one needs help in this regard, it may be possible for you and other family members to share the load. So long as they can perform the main activities of daily living, you may not need a professional to help take care of them.

Finding a Home Health Care Professional

If you have realized that your parent or elderly loved one cannot go to the bathroom, walk around the house or feed themselves without help, you will need to find a professional to assist you.

Since you are working and a family member cannot be with your parent all the time, you will need to hire someone to fill in the gaps. Most of these professionals are hired on an hourly basis.

Finding the right professional is not too difficult. You can find plenty of online resources where professionals in the Boca Raton area have provided their information. Certain nurses or home care workers may only work on a part-time basis, while others are available full time.

The good news is that Americans have many options when it comes to paying for home health care services. With services such as Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance and state government assistance, you will be able to manage these expenses with such planning.

We recommend that you start by seeing what could be covered by your loved one’s existing policies. If there are gaps in these policies, you can begin searching for solutions that would fill those gaps. And any other expenses leftover would be covered with out of pocket payments.