Pros And Cons on Healthcare Facilities For The Elderly

A time comes when the young grow and the need to give them adequate care becomes a concern on the hearts of their children or other relations. They begin to consider options of nursing home utilities or a maid and can somewhat be confused on what choice to settle for. Especially when you put into consideration their recreational and social activities, their transportation and their particular nutritional intake demand. It is this reason that gave rise to the elderly healthcare facilities.

These healthcare facilities for the elderly otherwise called seniors in Singapore is classified as either residential health care service or Community health care service which are provided by voluntary welfare organization, private establishment or government-owned facilities.

1. Community Healthcare Service

With this arrangement, health care services are either provided at home by trained or specialist nurses or at centers where the elderly patient goes to during the day and returns home after the appointment with the doctor or caregiver. The services provided include:

– Help with the daily living routine such as using the toilet, having their bath, brushing their teeth.
– Physiotherapy o Recreational activities
– Social activities
– Preparing food and feeding themo Transportation
– Doctor’s appointment
– Administering prescribed medications

Cons
– Older adults need the interaction and friendship of the age group which personalized care doesn’t afford them
– A sense of community is taken from them
– They could feel lonely and quickly get tired
– It is usually quite expensive.
o Your home might be redesigned or furnished to suit the need of the elderly patient.

Pros
– You elderly parent gets access to quality health caregivers
– This option is more convenient for your elderly parent
– He or she gets to remain in a familiar environment which can foster recovery or healthy mind

2. Residential Healthcare Service

Another alternative for another health care service is the residential health care service. The elderly are taken care of specially designed for the comfort and welfare of aged people. These facilities include:• Community hospital also called public facilities

Pros
– These hospitals are usually the most respected in Singapore
– They are empowered to handle complicated or life-threatening cases
– They are highly subsidized by the government
– Opportunity to bond with other elderly people

Cons
– No personalized care for your elderly.
– The subsidy is mainly for permanent residence holders.

• Nursing Homes Care

A nursing home is for people who don’t need a hospital admission and need to be cared for at home but cannot. Nursing homes have trained nurses and matrons to help take care of their elderly ones.

Pros
– Skilled nursing available to meet all the special needs of the elderly including physiotherapy and occupational therapy
– The elderly people are in a community of similar people who they can easily relate with.
– Provides full-time care.
– They have a more structured schedule which is easier for elderly people to work with.

Cons
– Can be quite expensive
– Lack of freedom for elderly people who are used to deciding their routine
– Some nursing home these days mistreat the elderly in their care.

• Inpatient Hospice care

This is a health care plan for the comfort and care for elderly people with advanced illness.

Pros
– It tends to provide more comfort, dignity for patients that doctors feel they have six months or less to live other things been equal in the case of the illness.
– It is suitable for those who are unable to care for their loved ones who are dying.
– Specialized physicians and skilled doctors are always available with hands on deck to give patients all the comfort needed.

Cons
– Can be capital intensive

• Respite Care

Respite care refers to your old one being cared for; usually for a short duration of time so that the main caregiver often a family member can take a break or go on a family vacation. Respite care can run for a few hours to a few weeks.

Pros
– Day to day caregiver which are usually family members can get a break
– A holiday trip can be a soothing relief to take the stress for caring for an elderly person
– Give the primary caregiver time to attend to other matters, care for the family and run some pending errands
– Getting a specialist care once in a while is good for the elderly in your care.
– Introducing your elderly parent to other alternative care once in a while may help their condition from deteriorating further.

Cons

– the elderly parents may not like the change in their routine
– Depression may easily set in for the aged if familiar hands are away.
– Respite care may not be readily available
– Cost of seeking respite care
– Adequate planning is required for moving your elderly patient to a respite care facility.
– Some elderly people can be difficult and reject moving into a respite care facility.

Elderly care can be quite costly as prices range from twenty-two to thirty dollars per hour for homes services and about one hundred and forty dollars for a session with the physician with eligible candidates enjoying up to eighty percent government subsidy.

As good as these elderly care facilities are, they are in short supply. Daycare spots are estimated to be about three thousand five hundred in the country which the government is working hard to increase, and these daycare centers are going into extinction which doesn’t speak well of the future because the number of old people is on a steady increase.

Another problem which the government of Singapore is trying to address is the shortage of elderly healthcare workers. The government of Singapore which can boast that Singapore has the best health care facility for their elderly in the world is working hard to find a solution to the problem. They are trying to explore technology as another way to help the elderly and reduce their reliance on nursing maids for care.

It seems robotics is the future for elderly health care. For example, the Cyberdyne which is a robotic exoskeleton is expected to provide support limbs for an elderly individual to enable hi assist himself and not depend solely on a maid.

In Singapore, the government is not relentless in its fight for the welfare of the elderly, and it has already budgeted over four hundred and fifty million dollars for its elderly care technological project.