About This Service
You may be visiting this page because your aging loved one has an upcoming, planned hospitalization, or they were recently hospitalized for an unexpected event such as a fall or other medical need. You may even be visiting because you did not expect that your aging loved one would need assistance after their hospitalization, but now you realize they do. If you are unsure and overwhelmed, or if you have a plan but want to confirm that you have identified every option, we are very glad to assist you. This page includes information about what to expect as your aging loved one leaves the hospital, their options as they return home and how to pay for them, and longer term options if their need for help remains. As you research options, we also recommend you visit our pages about 12 & 24-Hour Care, Safety and Supervision, and Overnight Care.
When you are informed that your aging loved one is going to be discharged home, you may feel mixed emotions. It is a positive event because it indicates that your aging loved one’s recovery is progressing. It is also a potentially stressful event for a variety of reasons. They are leaving the secure hospital environment, and you have uncertainties about their transition home. You may wonder how you are going to help them get into their house, as well as if they are going to be safe and able to resume their usual routine without incident. The hospital may have informed you that you will need to plan for 24-hour supervision before they are discharged home. In this scenario, if both of your aging parents are alive and one is returning home after a hospitalization, you may not feel confident that the other can completely or safely care for their spouse.
There are resources at the hospital to guide and assist you at discharge. Some may be more comprehensive than others, but in every situation it is important for you to understand what to expect and prepare your plan.
Medicare home health care is a common resource when one is being discharged home from the hospital. One qualifies for this service as follows: (this information is also available at Medicare.gov). Sometimes you may simply be informed that your aging loved one has their home health care already arranged through the hospital, but the discharging hospital should always present a list of home care companies for you to consider. Why is it important to research your options if the hospital has already arranged for their services for your aging loved one? One very important reason is that it will be advantageous if you choose a company that offers every type of home care funding. This enables you to work with one company to meet all of your aging loved one’s home care needs. Your aging loved one may need more than home health care, or you may not know what they’ll need. Having one company that can cohesively and comprehensively meet all of their needs, is preferable to trying to find a second company and then having to coordinate care between the two companies. Cooperative Home Care, Inc. offers every type of home care service, and we accept almost every type of home care funding. When you choose us, you are choosing one company to meet all of your home care needs. As we accept every type of home care funding, we can qualify your aging loved one for every possible funding source, before you pay out-of-pocket. This serves to reassures you that you are not paying out-of-pocket unless you have exhausted every other funding resource.
