What are my options?
How do I understand the wide range of options and terminology?
More questions than answers come up at this stage. Senior living options have a wide range and terminology can be confusing. The good news is that you are not alone. Cardinal Place has experience in the field to pass along.
After a hospital visit, for example, you may stay in a Rehabilitation facility like Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare or you may have trained people come to you home. The hospital Discharge Nurse will arrange with the Local Health Integration Network for Home Care. These are the people who assess your needs and arrange for Personal Support Workers, Occupational Therapists or Vocational Therapists to come to your home. However, home supports are only that, supports. Generally, Home Care assumes you have a viable, safe, practical, network of people to go home to. For example, they do not pay for nor prepare meals or housecleaning.
Regardless of a hospital stay, life circumstances may bring you to the point of reviewing your senior living options. We are fortunate to have many choices.
1. Windsor and Essex County have many senior apartments specifically designed for seniors (like hallway handrails, wide doorways). Some senior apartments sponsor a community social life as well.
2. Since 2010 all Ontario Retirement Homes have a special license, standards and inspection system. Standard included services in retirement homes include meals, room cleaning, laundry, basic health care assistance, and structural safety (like special fire safety and sprinkler systems). Community social life is a definite asset in retirement home living.
3. The Ontario government subsidizes Long Term Care Homes because they focus on people who need an ongoing significant level of care. LTCs are like living in a hospital long term. Many have developed a much better home and community atmosphere compared to years ago.
4. Dementia Care is found in both Retirement Homes and in Long Term Care. The significant difference is a person’s “wander risk” and level of personal care independence. As dementia progresses in a person more and more care needs to be supported or done by others who are trained and gifted. Exercise, diet, engagement and safety are all important factors to consider in Dementia Care offerings.
5. Skilled Nursing at home is also an option for all levels of care. Beyond the care provided by the government in your home, in a retirement home or in a long term care home, privately funded Nurses and Personal Support Workers can be hired to meet a person’s needs. Private, qualified, professional. paid care can add up to be very expensive.
6. Hospice, of course, has a honoured and celebrated history in the Windsor-Essex area. Whether at home, at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare, or at a Hospice facility in Windsor or Leamington, specialized end-of-life care is available.