Adult Daycare

A new solution to taking care of our loved ones. With America's growing elderly population, many people are starting to have to provide care for their parents. The caregivers may not want to put their parents in nursing homes for a variety of reasons including costs, not trusting their medical staff, not needing 24/7 care, and even respecting their parents desires not to be in nursing homes. Even though these people are not being placed in nursing homes, they do need some one to cook for them and supervise them during the day while their caregivers are working. To help with this, there is a growing trend of adult daycare services.
These adult daycare services specialize in providing activities for elderly and/or handicapped. These centers normally operate between 10-12 hours per days and provided participants with food, activities, and company. According to the National Adult Day Services Association, there are over 3,500 adult day centers services in the United States. Most of these run on a nonprofit basis. The average national cost for adult daycare is 56 dollars, which is less than a home health visit.
There are three times of adult dayservices. There is are adult daycare that are for more active people. Then there are adult day health care that will help with a medical care. There is another classification of adult day services that specialize in caring for people with Alzheimer's or other forms dementia and all staff member are trained to handle dementia.
If this sounds like something that would benefit you or someone in your family, please contact your local office on aging or ask your family physician for recommendations. Also try looking for the topics "Adult Day Care," "Aging Services" or "Senior Citizens Services." in the phone book. If you are trying to find an adult dayservice from out of town the national ElderCare Locater, 800/677-1116, can help you.
Once you begin looking for a adult dayservice, here is a checklist of questions that may be helpful to you.

Do the hours of operation match your work schedule?
Are there a nurse and social worker on staff?
What is the staff to patient ratio?
Is the staff required to get any special training?
How much does it cost?
Are the activities appropriate to the level of capabilities?
What conditions are accepted?

Before you choose a center make sure that the center employees caring qualified staff and has happy clients and volunteers. They should be recommend by your doctor or local agency on aging. The center should provide nutritious and good tasting meals, it should also be wheel chair assessable, have safety features all around, be clean and not have an odor. The center you choose should also conduct as assessment of your family member to determine their needs and desires. Based on that the center should make an individualized plan with social, recreational, and rehabilitative needs and monitor progress on it. Most importantly they should make you and your loved one feel safe and welcome.