Economic Facility or Expensive Facility?

 My mother needs 24-hour-care every day. My wife and I can’t provide all of that, so we use temporary short-stay facilities for the elderly.

 There are various kinds of facilities for short stays. To divide them simply, there are economic facilities and expensive facilities. From my point of view, there are more caregivers in the expensive facilities. Expensive facilities can hire semi-professional entertainers for recreation. The meals in expensive facilities are more elaborate.

 I assumed that these differences wouldn’t affect my mother because she has Alzheimer’s disease. But I was wrong.

 When she comes back from the expensive facility, she is in a good mood. Basically, she is humming to herself. When she comes back from the economic facility, she looks depressed.

 Alzheimer’s disease patients have difficulty remembering things, but they do still have feelings. If a patient is cared for by well-paid caregivers in an expensive facility, the patient feels good and is in a good mood. That can reduce the burdens on his or her family. We should say that the expensive facilities are better. We should use the expensive facilities. But it is not that simple.

 The expensive facility we use is very popular. We need to make a reservation about one month in advance. The economic facility can accept my mother the same day. We need to maintain a good relationship with the economic facility for emergencies.

 Of course, we have financial problems. No one knows how long my mother will live. It is said that the life expectancy of Alzheimer’s disease patients is ten years. But the ten years passed a few years ago. Doctors have never found any problems with my mother’s medical condition except for Alzheimer’s disease. If we keep spending many on the expensive facility, we could be bankrupt in a few more years.

 This could be one of the reasons why the salaries for caregiving workers are very low. No one can predict ageing and death.

 When I get old, of course I want to live in an expensive facility. I want to enjoy the final term in my life. But if I live a longer life than I expected, I will be bankrupt. If I am old but have no money, what should I do?

 For a while, we will use the expensive facility for my mother. That might improve caregivers’ working conditions. And, most importantly, it makes my mother happy.

 

Picture by Aqua