24 Hour and Live-In Home Care for Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Most elderly, including those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, prefer to age in their homes.

The flexibility of in-home care allows for services to easily be increased or decrease depending on the need versus the relatively fixed costs of an assisted living facility, a memory care unit, or a nursing home facility.

Those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias might require only minimal personal care assistance and live-in or 24 hour care is not required.

As people enter mid stage dementia the hours of care and services can be increased to assist with the greater need with the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), such as bathing, personal hygiene, and dressing, and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs), such as light housecleaning, laundry, and shopping for groceries.

In late-stage and end-stage dementia and Alzheimer’s, persons need extensive help, as mobility and the ability to communicate can be lost altogether.

Additional caregivers services might be needed such as companionship, meal preparation and clean up, and accompaniment to appointments.

The around the clock care that 24 Hour care provides or the all day care that Live-in care provides might be required.

It can be easy to confuse Live-in care with 24 hour care. While the same services are generally provided with both types of care, there are differences in coverage and costs between them.

With Live-In home care, a single caregiver provides to the needs of your loved one in a 24 hour time frame. The caregiver is scheduled for a maximum of four or five days per week and then switches with a different caregiver for the remainder of the week. Generally, the care is given by only these two caregivers over the course of the week, versus the day.

Over a 24 hour day, the Live-in caregiver is given a 4 hour break to rest and rejuvenate. If the situation requires it, an additional caregiver can cover these 4 hours. The Live-in caregiver also has an 8 hour sleeping period.

With Live-in care, a room and a bed in the house must be provided for the Live-in caregiver to sleep.

Live-in care is billed at a flat per day rate. If needed, any additional coverage during the Live-in caregiver’s 4 hour daily break is billed at an hourly rate.

With 24 Hour care, two caregivers are scheduled daily with each caregiver working a 12 hour shift. In some situations for medical or other reasons, it is better to have three caregivers who each work an 8 hour shift.

Caregivers do not sleep in the home and a room is not provided for them with 24 Hour care.

24 Hour home care is billed on an hourly rate and caregivers usually work no more than 4 shifts per week.

Live-in and 24 Hour care costs are comparable to nursing home and assisted living costs, and provides individual one-on-one care versus shared care.

Live-in home care costs are less than the cost of nursing homes at around $384 a day for the care needs of one person or $504 a day for two people to receive care.

24 Hour in-home care is about $576 a day for the care needs of one person or $624 a day for two people to receive care.

Nursing homes in Greater Boston average about $10,380 a month and range between $7,050 and $13,200 per month.

Annually, the costs of these facilities are $84,600 to $158,400 with the mean cost of around $126,290 for Greater Boston, which is higher than the national mean average of $77,380 a year.

Our caregivers are trained and experienced in Alzheimer’s and dementia care They know how to approach and communicate with persons with dementia. Including how to handle specific behaviors commonly seen in persons with the disease, such as sundowning, wandering, and mood swings.

About Unique HomeCare Services

Unique HomeCare Services provides private in-home care for elders, those with Alzheimer’s or Dementia, and people who are recuperating from illness, injury, or surgery.

We provide both short-term and long-term in-home care needs from as little as one 4 hour day a week to 24 Hour Care and Live-In Care.

We offer a full range of in-home personal care services including Bathing, Personal Hygiene, Dressing Assistance, Toileting and Incontinence, Feeding, and Medication Reminders.

We also provide support services such as Case Management, Accompaniment to Appointments, Nutrition and Meal Management, Light Housekeeping and Laundry Services, Bed and Wheel Chair Transfers, and Shopping and Running Errands.

Unique HomeCare Services is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts and serves the surrounding communities.

We have an extensive Directory of Online Senior and Caregiver Resources for the information you need.

To schedule a no cost and no obligation In-Home Assessment to determine the home care needs and get a quote, please call us to speak to a Case Manager at (800) 296-9962 or fill out our Free Quote Contact Form.

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