If you are looking at nursing home care for your aging loved one, it can be a difficult decision to make. San Antonio sees an average monthly cost for nursing homes to be around $5,232 which is significantly lower than the national average of $7,908 (source). It is great that San Antonio offers nursing home care at a significantly lower cost than most other states but you might still be struggling to know how to budget or what location is best for your aging loved one.
Nursing home residents likely require 24/7 skilled nursing care with many residents suffering from a disability or medical condition that is beyond the care offered at an assisted living community. The on-site staff will include skilled nurses, physical therapists across multiple disciplines, and home aides. Residents of nursing home facilities will also have a designated care plan recommended by their doctor or the on-site physician medical director.
Can Nursing Home Facilities Offer Long-Term Care?
If your aging loved one has been informed by their current assisted living facility that their daily living needs now extend past their current services, nursing home care could be the next likely stage for them. Nursing homes will provide the support needed to residents that have more complicated health needs along with needing help with most (if not all) daily activities.
A lot of the nursing homes in San Antonio offer a memory care program that can be available to your loved one if their memory care ailment advances while they are a resident of the nursing home. You will want to make sure you plan for the long-term care of your loved one to minimize moving them or adding unneeded expenses and stress.
What Are the Benefits of a Nursing Home?
We have highlighted some of the major benefits that make nursing homes unique from assisted living to help you better understand what kind of care your loved one might require. Here are just a few:
- Around The Clock Care: While assisted living may only provide some help with activities of daily living (ADLs), a nursing home will provide assistance and monitoring around the clock. Nursing homes will typically offer more on-site specialized therapists that can help with speech or physical therapy.
- Complete Medication Management: Assisted living facilities might provide some medication oversight for residents but nursing homes will offer complete medication management. The staff at nursing homes will also likely be able to administer IVs and administer other specialized medications.
- Access to Doctors: Nursing home residents will likely not have to travel to see a medical doctor unlike assisted living residents. Several of the nursing homes in San Antonio have a medical doctor that is on-staff at the facility to provide regular medical check-ins on your loved one.
- Mobility Assistance: Assisted living facilities will typically expect their residents to be fairly mobile when moving about the facility. Nursing home care will provide assistance to residents in wheelchairs and others that have mobility issues that might not be addressed at an assisted living facility.
The transition to needing nursing home care can be sudden (from an injury) or moving onto a new stage of required care that their previous facility could no longer provide them. We know that every stage is difficult but this can be even more challenging as a caregiver. We can provide you with all the insights you need for making the correct decision on the nursing home facility in San Antonio. Call us at 972-743-6012 or fill out the form on our website to get a meeting scheduled today!
