How 24-Hour Home Care Is Different from Live-in Care

As the effects of aging set in, your loved one may require increased attention and care.

In fact, nearly half of the population over the age of 65 needs assistance on a day-to-day basis. When facing the decision of how to care for the one you love, you have three options. You can choose to move your loved one into an assisted living or nursing home, provide the care yourself, or hire an in-home caregiver. While nursing homes provide around-the-clock care, they also require the patient to leave their home and loved ones. This oftentimes leads to anxiety, depression and a decreased quality of life. You may decide to provide the care that your family member needs on your own. While this is noble, it may lead to burnout. Plus, if you’re not properly trained, you may not be able to provide the care that’s needed.

Instead of uprooting your loved one and disrupting your life, why not hire homecare in Costa Mesa? With options like live-in and 24-hour homecare, you can select the type of assistance that’s right for you and your family.

The terms “live-in care” and “24-hour care” may seem synonymous, but there are some key differences to note when making your decision. It’s important to understand the differences between the two before you hire a caregiver. Before you begin searching for the right type of care, make a note of the needs of your loved one. This allows you to more clearly decide which around-the-clock care option will best benefit your family. However, the 24-hour care arrangement may be their best option. Read on to learn how these two care arrangements differ and why one may be more beneficial to the senior in your life.

Live-In Care

As the name suggests, live-in care means that there is a caregiver living on the premises at all times. This doesn’t mean that the caregiver has taken up residence in your home. Instead, it means that for a 24-hour period, one caregiver is on site. After the shift is over, the caregiver may return to their own home or start another consecutive shift with your family. Instead of having a team of a few caregivers rotating through shifts, one caregiver is booked for a maximum of four to five days out of the week. The shifts are 24 hours long with an 8-hour sleeping break required. In order to hire a live-in care provider, a bed or bedroom must be provided. On top of the sleeping break, a 4-hour daily break must also be given.

Live-in care is a great choice for those families who are looking to limit the number of caregivers providing assistance. Typically, you’ll only need to schedule 2 caregivers to cover an entire week. This allows for closer relationships to be built and more fluidity of care. Live-in care is also billed much differently than 24-hour care. Instead of billing by the hour, each caregiver is paid a flat rate for each day of employment. Many prefer this style of billing as it’s simple to calculate. It is also important to note that live-in care is not an option in all territories in the U.S., as it varies from state to state.

However, it’s just as important to weigh the cons of this type of treatment. The biggest problem is that there are mandatory breaks required. Since there is only one caregiver scheduled at a time, this could prove problematic. If you’re concerned about your loved one being constantly monitored, the thought of an 8-hour sleep break and a 4-hour daily break may seem daunting. Who’s to say when your loved one may have a fall, experience chest pain or other emergency symptoms, or worse? To remedy this issue, many families opt to have a secondary care provider step in during the breaks just to ensure that their loved one is constantly monitored. This still limits the number of caregivers involved in assisting your loved one, while also providing around-the-clock care that you need. However, paying for overlaps in care can be expensive, as well as complicated to manage.

24-Hour Homecare

If live-in care doesn’t sound like something that suits your family’s style and schedule or it is not allowed in your state, consider 24-hour homecare instead. Much like live-in care, it provides continuous care around the clock. Instead of one caregiver handling an entire 24-hour period, two caregivers are scheduled to work for 12 hours each, covering the entire day. Because employees are only working 12 hours, there’s no need to provide a sleep break or a bed or bedroom unless you’d like to.

Another benefit is that 24-hour homecare is a bit more flexible than live-in care. You can choose to have your caregivers work 12-hour shifts or you can hire 3 caregivers to work 8-hour shifts. This ensures maximum alertness throughout the entire shift. Unlike live-in care, 24-hour homecare is billed by the hour. It is important to note that 24-hour care from this approach is allowed in all states.

Overall, since the home care staff will work 2 shorter, 12-hour shifts, as opposed to the all-day arrangement of live-in care, the 24-hour staff will be more attentive to your loved one. Professionals will be mentally sharp enough to stay on top of your senior’s health needs and status. They’ll also remain physically energized to handle tasks like lifting your loved one from a seated or lying position. Because the staff will be awake for their entire shift, you won’t have to worry about the consequences should your loved one have health needs in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. If the senior in your life truly needs around-the-clock, dedicated service by a trained professional, 24-hour care is the superior choice. It gives you a nursing home level of supervision while maintaining privacy and property.

Making the Right Choice for Your Loved One

While your decision between 24-hour or live-in care should be determined by preference and the needs of your loved one, heed this advice before deciding, carefully weighing your options and goals. Then, contact 24 Hour Home Care. 24 Hour Home Care is pleased to provide a variety of homecare choices specifically tailored to fit your needs. Whether you require around the clock assistance or you’re simply looking for a qualified caregiver to provide help a few hours a week, we’re here for you.

24 Hour Home Care is committed to providing a high quality of care while improving the daily life of each of our patients.

So, why wait? Discover how we can improve your loved one’s home life today, giving you the confidence that they’re attended to when you can’t be around to provide for them.