06-26-2012, 09:23 PM
(06-25-2012, 10:39 PM)aussiefriend Wrote: It doesn't cost that much Sally. I think you would be surprised at how much it would cost for someone to come in for an hour or so, depending on how much assistance is needed. It just would be a part of your cost of living expenses. Your children, if they are not trained, are not going to be able to care for you as well as someone who does it for a living. Moreover, they may not want to. Some people just don't have a gift to care for people in that way.
At the end of the day, the most important thing, for longevity is quality of life.
It costs about 120,000 per year if you have alzheimers and hire a nurse to come in 24/7. I know because thats what I did for my grandma. It was their money that they saved for all their lives and her wish was to stay in her own home as long as possible.
Before my grandpa passed away he mentioned to me that grandma was getting a little forgetful. He ended up being admitted to the hospital and the next morning I picked grandma up to take her to visit him and she didn't know what the fuck I was talking about. She didn't even know he was missing. That's when I knew she was a little more than just forgetful
I didn't know what the hell to do with her so I would pack her food everyday and bring her to the hospital to sit with grandpa for 8 hrs untill I got home from work. It's not like they did anything different at the house. It seemed like a good idea untill I got a call from the hospital saying I can't leave this lady here anymore.
Anyway it was a huge expense taking care of her and I could have saved that money and did it myself if I didn't have my own family or if I had siblings to help out with her care.