More Long Term Care Options for Texans
Extensive Texas long term care does not require an individual to enter a nursing home because the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) sees to it that all elderly and disabled Texans receive quality care regardless of their choice of setting.
In some places, in-home care may only refer to custodial care which basically covers provision of assistance to one’s activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, management of continence, and transferring. But in Texas, in-home care also includes all kinds of therapy ranging from physical, speech, occupational, and intravenous among others to meet the health care requirements of all in-home care recipients.
In the past, Texan families had no choice but to put their elderly or disabled loved ones in a nursing home once their health starts to deteriorate due to a debilitating illness. At the time only nursing homes were equipped to provide round-the-clock care and monitoring. Depriving a very sick person of skilled nursing care can worsen his condition or worse, cause his untimely death.
Unfortunately, nursing homes in Texas cost a lot of money. Perhaps a month or two in a nursing home is still tolerable to one’s finances but according to professional nurses, the average length of stay of most elderly people in nursing homes is three years. Those with Alzheimer’s even stay for 10 years.
Middle-class families can’t afford to pay for their loved ones’ years of nursing home needs if they’re just going to rely on their annual income. At present, the average annual rate of a private nursing home room in Texas is $63,236.
Alternative Texas Long Term Care
Home health care agencies in Texas provide different levels of care to ensure everybody that they don’t have to leave their homes just to be able to receive quality care.
For instance, an individual with functional limitations due to infirmity may only require assistance with his ADLs so a home health care agency can send a home health aide or unskilled caregiver over to his place. Meanwhile, a chronically ill person who requires therapeutic services, assistance with the administration of his medication, and skilled nursing care shall be provided a licensed health care professional such as a registered nurse.
It is necessary for families in Texas to sit down and talk about LTC because they have so many options. They have to discuss the costs, though, as Texas won’t be exempted once the country’s cost of care increases fourfold in 2030. Just like residents of other U.S. states, Texans are bound to pay millions of dollars for quality LTC services.
Without a well-defined plan of action, all Texans who will find themselves on the receiving end of LTC will eventually lose everything that they’ve earned through years of hard work.
Although the government of Texas has its eyes on the LTC needs of its people, it’s not advisable to be complacent and too dependent. Bear in mind that the quality of Texas long term care which you or a loved one will receive in the future shall be determined by the decision that you make today.
Processing your request, Please wait....
