As highlighted in my last column, nursing homes are not the solution; rather, they are an option for those in need of care. A nursing home or home for the aged usually caters to the needs of clients, whereas communities for seniors, like continuous care retirement communities (CCRC), cater to the wants of the client.

There is a fine, but significant, difference between CCRCs and nursing homes. CCRCs cater to active seniors. These seniors still want to experience life to the fullest and engage in social or recreational activities. The marketing strategies of CCRC developers are based on the lifestyles of the elderly and on realizing the potential this market segment has.

Nursing homes, on the other hand, address the needs of their clients. First and foremost, these homes cater to people with medical needs. People in need of minor
assistance would mostly stay in their own homes and avail themselves of assistance from househelp, caregivers, family members and so on. But what if the family cannot handle those needs anymore? This is exactly where the nursing home comes in. It looks into what the potential resident, as well as his or her family, needs. The marketing strategies of nursing homes are more tailored to the children of the resident than to the resident himself or herself.

This is based on the fact that, for CCRCs and other similar residences, it is mostly the senior citizen himself or herself who makes the decision by saying: “This is what I want for my life. I can identify myself with this facility and its services.” For nursing homes, in most cases, it is the children or other close relatives who make the decision to transfer the senior citizen to the facility to address his or her medical needs properly.

However, for many families, a nursing home is not an option. This is not only a fact in the Philippines, but also in many other countries. It is in our nature to feel obliged to take care of our parents when they cannot do so anymore. After all, it is time for us to repay the care they had extended to us when we were children.

Another option available is home health-care services. Home care in the country is completely different from that in Europe or the United States.

An elderly person in Europe who is enrolled in a home-care program receives, on average, between one and four hours of care a day. A nurse goes to one client in the morning to help him or her in bathing and dressing himself or herself before going to the next client. At lunchtime, a second nurse comes to assist the senior in eating his or her lunch and, after that, administer some medication. In the evening, a third nurse visits the client to help him or her get ready for bed. 

Source: Business Mirror