There comes a time for all of us when our parents are no longer taking care of us, but we need to take care of them. This may seem like a scary and daunting thought, but we need to prepare ourselves to step up and serve our elders as they served us when we were growing up.

One question regarding taking care of our parents is always difficult to answer and it relates to whether homecare is superior to institutional care for the aged. While I am not an expert on this topic, I recently had a conversation with a lady who shed some light on the subject for me and made me think about my own opinion about this matter. In the end, most of us will have to decide how we are going to take care of our parents so we might as well start thinking about it and prepare ourselves for this eventuality now.

Home-based care

Home-based care refers to situations where the elderly is looked after at home. It could be their home or your home, but they are looked after by yourself or hired staff in the comfort of a home environment. You might feel that you would like your parents to live with you either in your home, or on an adjoining property to yours, where you are close enough to help look after them as they grow old. Or they may want to remain in their own home and hire staff such as cleaners, nurses and caregivers to look after them and their needs.

Many people feel that by keeping elderly people in their own homes, or the homes of family members, they remain more comfortable because they are in familiar surroundings, as opposed to being moved into an old age-home or frail care facility. This familiarity and comfort could help to slow the onset of debilitating mental diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.

While the home-based care option has its benefits, it is often the more costly option if you opt to hire private staff to care for the needs of the elderly. However, if you are prepared to take care of your ageing family member yourself in your own home, the costs will be greatly reduced.

Institutional care for the aged

This refers to placing aged family members into an old-age home or frail care facility. Here they will be taken care of by professional staff that should be trained to care for the aged. They will also be surrounded by other people their own age. While this is a good thing in that many close friendships can be built between the elderly, sometimes not having much contact with other generations can make people age faster than they otherwise would have had they been in contact with younger generations as in a family setting.

Other benefits of institutional care include on-site medical help should the person’s health deteriorate.

There is a growing number of South Africans living overseas. Many of those living abroad have elderly parents in South Africa. Living abroad makes taking care of one’s parents and loved ones in SA even more challenging as individuals are not in close proximity to their parents in order to provide hands-on help and care.

In the past families took care of the aged themselves. Only in the last few decades have retired and ageing individuals moved into institutions designed to care for their needs. In the end you need to decide how you want to help and care for your parents, taking into consideration their wants and needs.

It is very challenging to witness your parents growing old and needing more and more of your help, but what a wonderful opportunity to show love, appreciation and gratitude for all they have done for you over the years.

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