If you’re caring for someone who is living with dementia and you’ve had to hire professional care services to help out, you may be struggling with covering the costs involved to look after a loved one. You want the very best for them, but you also have to be able to afford professional care.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some ways you can cover the cost of dementia home care and tips on how to manage the financial aspect of caring for someone with dementia.
#1 – Does the Person Require Professional Care Full-Time?
This situation may depend on how advanced the dementia is and the availability of friends or loved ones to look after the person living with dementia. If many of the daily care requirements can be done by family members or friends, you may only have to pay for professional care services on a part-time basis rather than full-time.
If this is the case, you’ll be able to reduce the cost of professional care significantly, making it more affordable. Not every individual will require professional home care services on a full-time basis, so hiring someone part-time might be a viable option.
#2 – Seek Advice From a Dementia Organisation
In Australia, there are a number of organisations that assist people with dementia, offering advice on how to cope and ways that you can help fund the cost of dementia care. Some of these organisations are run or funded by the Federal Government.
If a loved one in your care is living with dementia and you’re struggling to find ways to cover the costs of home care, talk to one of these organisations about your situation and see what options may be available for you.
It’s also comforting to know that you’re not alone and there is someone sympathetic that you can talk to for advice or even counselling.
It’s worth taking the time to do some research on organizations that may be able to help with funding for the cost of home care, as it’s vital that the person living with dementia receives the quality of care they deserve, without the financial burden attached.
#3 – Taking Out a Medical Loan Could Be An Option
While getting into debt is not ideal, you could apply for a medical loan with a bank or private lender so you can at least get started on professional home care. Taking out a loan can buy you some time to figure out some other methods and means of paying for ongoing home care.
While you won’t be wanting to attempt to finance ongoing care with a loan, it’s a short-term option just to get the ball rolling.
If you do decide to take this course of action, make sure you do your research on any potential loans carefully. It’s worth taking the time to find the best deal possible. Always read the lender’s fine print as well, so there are no surprises when it comes to extra fees you weren’t expecting.
#4 – Offer Your Skills and Services Online and Work From Home
When caring for a family member or loved one who has dementia, it may prove difficult to be able to go out to work each day, and if you’ve hired the services of a professional home care company, you’ll likely need to employ them on a full-time basis to cover the time you’re away working.
An option is if you can work remotely from home for your job, or offer your services and skills online and make some money from home. This way, you have the capacity to take care of the person who has dementia and do your work without having to leave the house.
A few ideas of what you could do online from home include:
- Freelance writing
- Graphic design
- Computer programming
- Accounting
- Affiliate marketing
- Social media marketing
- And loads more…
In Conclusion
The cost of dementia care doesn’t have to be an insurmountable obstacle. There are ways to cover the costs of professional home care and there is assistance available. Just go online and do some research to find funding options that might be available for you. You can even discuss this with your home care professional.