Alternatives to Nursing Home Placement

Alternatives to Nursing Home Placement

If someone in your family has suffered a catastrophic injury you may assume that your only option is to place your relative in a nursing home. However, alternative housing option may exist. Health needs, family relationships, financial situations, community involvement, and your relative's wishes should all play a role in housing choice. So, before you choose a nursing home, make sure you consider the following alternatives.

1. Have your relative stay in his or her home.

   If your relative has minor health needs that can be addressed with a home health care provider, but financial concerns are an issue, consider the following:

   • Home equity conversion-reverse mortgages and equity lines of credit can be used to pay for a person's expenses while allowing him or her to remain home
     
     
   • Grants and loans can be used for weatherization and disability adaptation
     
     
   • Rebates on real estate taxes
     
     
   • Programs that permit the elderly and disabled to delay payment of real estate taxes until after death, with the taxes operating as a lien
     
     
2. Have your relative stay in his or her apartment.

   There are various public housing programs that may provide financial assistance to your relative. Additionally, many states have statutes that protect senior citizen and disabled tenants from eviction when their apartments are converted to co-ops or condos. Minor healthcare needs can be addressed by a home health care provider.

3. Move your relative into your home.

   There are a variety of tax benefits available to individuals who house and care for elderly relatives. Additionally, your employer may allow you to use your cafeteria plan to pay for adult day care.

4. Move your relative into a congregate care complex.

   These complexes have separate apartments with kitchens. They usually offer some amount of housekeeping and a daily group meal. Personal care and health services are usually not a part of this type of arrangement. Many of these complexes are federally subsidized.

5. Find a roommate for your relative.

   If your relative's housing is reasonably suitable and he or she needs companionship and help for shoveling the driveway, drives to the mall, help with heavy lifting and someone to call 911 if they fall, then a roommate may be the answer. Roommate listings and resources are often available from local senior organizations.

6. Build an accessory apartment into an existing house to either accommodate the senior or for the senior to accommodate a caregiver in lieu of payment.

   If a house has extensive grounds, a separate structure can be constructed to accommodate the disabled individual. The structure can be built to be easily converted if the individual ultimately requires placement in a nursing home.

7. Move your relative into a private residence or facility that provides board and care.

   Board-and-care residences provide a room, board and twenty-four hour monitoring. Some residences also provide assistance with daily living and activities. Other names for these residences are residential care facility, domiciliary care, homes for the aged, or community-based residential facility.

8. Move your relative into an assisted living community.

   Assisted living communities usually provide small private apartments with kitchens and a variety of social and recreational activities. They emphasize independence, autonomy, privacy, and the right to make choices.

9. Move your relative into a life care facility.

   A life care facility, although difficult to find, is one in which the resident turns over all of his or her assets or pays a total lifetime fee in advance in exchange for shelter, health care, and supportive services for life.

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