Day Care: Relief for Family Caregivers & Enrichment for Seniors

Daycare is a valuable service – those in need of care are looked after during the day and spend the evening and night at home. This allows caring relatives to pursue their careers and helps seniors living alone to manage their daily lives and promotes social interaction.

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Definition & Forms of Daycare

Daycare is a facility where elderly and care-dependent individuals are looked after and cared for during the day for up to 8 hours. They spend the evening and night at home. Daycare is highly individualized, and you can decide how often and to what extent you want to use it. Just a few hours or a whole day, the entire week from Monday to Friday, or only on selected days – you can decide for yourself.

A day full of joy in daycare.

Partial inpatient care brings variety to daily care and can relieve relatives. It is also a valuable tool for seniors living alone to manage their daily lives, maintain social contacts, and stay in their familiar environment for as long as possible. They receive competent care for a specific period of the day.

Daycare includes numerous organizational forms and services. On the one hand, there are facilities explicitly created for it. On the other hand, daycare is also offered in nursing homes. Home-based daycare is also possible and is covered by outpatient care services with a combination of care and support services.

Who is daycare suitable for?

Balancing family and career is certainly not always easy. However, when the care of relatives is added, those affected are often mentally and psychologically overwhelmed. Daycare can provide relief in this case and support you in caring for or looking after relatives. Single seniors who still manage their daily lives independently and are not yet ready for a nursing home can receive the appropriate support in daycare.

Caregivers ensure the well-being of seniors during lunch.

Geriatric depression is a very important issue that daycare tries to counteract. Depression leads those affected to neglect themselves and their household, not cook or eat meals, and leads to the loss of important skills and abilities such as household management, daily routines, or even temporal orientation, which are necessary for a self-determined and independent life. Through daycare, social contacts with other people are promoted, and thus participation in public life.

Daycare is also suitable for people with physical or cognitive impairments. Often, caring for relatives also requires medical care, such as dressing changes, which can be delegated to professional caregivers through daycare attendance.

People with dementia who still live alone can pose dangers to themselves and others, such as forgetting to turn off the stove. It can also be dangerous for elderly people if they forget to eat and drink. With age, the feeling of thirst decreases, and thus fluid intake. Confusion and disorientation are the result. Malnutrition can lead to spells of weakness and thus increase the risk of falls.

What services are offered in daycare?

The concept of daycare includes all daily basic care such as going to the toilet, treatment care such as administering medication or changing dressings, as well as meals. However, the range of services varies depending on the provider. Other possible services include activity programs such as walks, gymnastics, cooking and baking, singing, crafts, board games, and much more.

A day full of activities and fun in daycare.

It is also interesting that a transport service to daycare is part of the services covered by long-term care insurance, provided that the contribution due to the insured person in need of care for daycare has not been exhausted. Otherwise, the travel costs must be borne by the individual. Some daycare facilities have their own transport service or work closely with local taxi companies.

Who is eligible for daycare?

Home care can be stabilized by daycare services and used needs-based through individual adaptation. The right to daycare is regulated in SGB XI in § 41:

(1) Persons in need of care with care levels 2 to 5 are entitled to partial inpatient care in day or night care facilities if home care cannot be adequately ensured or if this is necessary to supplement or strengthen home care. Partial inpatient care also includes the necessary transport of the person in need of care from their home to the day or night care facility and back.

By the way, in addition to daycare, there is also the concept of night care, which ensures senior care overnight, for example, if they need medication or have a disturbed sleep rhythm.

What are the costs?

The costs for daycare vary depending on the facility. The scope of services offered, as well as the regional location, can influence the costs incurred. On average, a day in a care facility costs between €50 and €100.

Affected individuals who only have care level 1 have the option of utilizing their care and relief services of €125 per month for daycare. From care level 2, the following amounts are available for day or night care:

• Care level 2: 689 Euros per month

• Care level 3: 1298 Euros per month

• Care level 4: 1612 Euros per month

• Care level 5: 1995 Euros per month

Let's assume the cost of daycare is €60 per day. With €689 per month at care level 2, a full 11 days per month of daycare can be claimed. The costs for basic care, medical care, and transportation are covered by the long-term care insurance within the maximum contribution for the respective care level. However, costs for meals and accommodation, as well as investment costs, are borne by the person in need of care.

Things to know about day and night care

Utilizing daycare does not lead to a reduction in care allowance!

The service can be utilized to its full extent up to the maximum contribution of the care level without offsetting against the care allowance. Daycare services and the services of an outpatient care service can also be utilized simultaneously. This is regulated in SGB XI § 41 as follows:

(3) Persons in need of care with care levels 2 to 5 can utilize partial inpatient day and night care in addition to outpatient care benefits in kind, care allowance, or the combined benefit according to § 38, without these entitlements being offset.

Anyone who cannot cover the costs incurred after deducting the care insurance benefits themselves should contact their local social welfare office and discuss a subsidy. Furthermore, there are various ways to claim care costs as tax deductions. A tax advisor or the local tax office can provide you with further information on this.

Daycare - a place of community.

Tips for family caregivers

 

Finding the right daycare can sometimes be a challenge.

Get as many offers as possible and compare costs and services. Seek detailed advice to make the right decision in the end.

For more safety in everyday life - Gardia emergency wristband

You should also not disregard the safety factor. Although guests are fully cared for in daycare, an emergency can occur during excursions or on the way to daycare. Purchasing an emergency call system can certainly be useful. Our Gardia emergency wristband is particularly suitable here; in an emergency, you will be notified directly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A day in a daycare facility

Daycare aims to stabilize the care situation and provide relief: elderly people spend the day in the daycare facility and are looked after all around, then they can return home in the late afternoon.

Dear Ms. Reinhard, you have been caring for daycare guests at the St. Antonius Senior Center in Soest for three years. How do you rate daycare?

Our daycare is a form of care and provision for people with care levels 2 to 5. It enables people with impairments to have a beautiful and varied day and at the same time relieves family caregivers.

What services does your daycare facility provide for guests?

Thanks to our professional team of nurses, care assistants, and gerontopsychiatric specialists, we care for guests with both somatic and psychiatric conditions. For transport to and from daycare, we work with a local taxi company that offers both taxi and wheelchair transport.

Regarding meal provision, we are supplied by the in-house kitchen, which means we offer 2 different dishes to choose from daily. Special diets for intolerances or swallowing disorders are therefore possible at any time. And in case of sudden cravings, the kitchen is also very flexible.

Individual therapeutic measures for guests can also be carried out during their stay at the daycare center. This also significantly relieves relatives.

Due to our location in the city center, we have the opportunity to enable regular shopping trips, visits to ice cream parlors, or participation in the fair or Christmas market. Many guests have not been to the city center for years and enjoy it very much.

Eating ice cream in the sun by the large pond, watching geese and ducks, as well as children playing, is something truly special for many guests.

That's a truly comprehensive offering. Our readers are interested in what a typical daily routine looks like in your facility. Do you value fixed structures?

Our daycare opens at 8:00 a.m. It is advisable for every guest, whether brought by the taxi service or relatives, to arrive at daycare by 9:00 a.m., as that is when the communal breakfast begins.

Afterward, there is a newspaper round where current events are discussed in the group. In the further course, daily changing activities such as gymnastics, memory training, walks, guessing games, cooking and baking offers, film screenings, or wellness offers take place. All according to the individual wishes of the guests.

Around 12:00 p.m., lunch is eaten together. Afterward, there is a midday rest. Depending on their preference, guests rest in a reclining chair or in bed. Guests who do not want to sleep due to restlessness or dementia receive an alternative offer.

Around 2:30 p.m., homemade cake is served in a cozy round, with chatter or guessing games offered.

At 3:45 p.m., the taxi service arrives and takes the guests back home.

A well-filled and interesting daily routine. Who is actually the typical visitor to your daycare facility?

Guests at our daycare facility have both somatic and psychiatric conditions. Fundamentally, according to our care and support model by Tom Kidwood, we work resource-oriented, meaning we primarily see the person with their capabilities, not with their impairments.

Our guests are currently between 63 and 96 years old. We do not have individual age requirements. In the preliminary discussion, it is personally clarified whether the future guest, due to their cognitive abilities and general condition, will benefit most and enjoy visiting the daycare center.

Guest mobility is secondary to us, as transport by wheelchair taxi is possible at any time. For medical conditions that require periods of rest throughout the day, recliners or multi-functional beds are always available. Due to the often advanced age and medical conditions, the majority of day care guests are at risk of falling.

Some guests also simply retreat to bed or the sofa for a few hours because it is so comfortable.

How often guests come depends on individual wishes and the respective care level. The higher the care level, the more financial resources are available through the care insurance fund.

And what challenges do day care guests face?

Because many guests have spent a long time alone or with the caregiver at home, it can be unfamiliar at first to reintegrate into a group. Through our acclimatization concept and the offer of a free trial day, guests can slowly get used to it, and barriers are usually quickly minimized.

We've always wondered if guests need to meet certain requirements to visit your facility?

A prerequisite for admission to day care is care level 2 to 5. In addition, the potential future guest must be able to be transported by wheelchair taxi.

What impact would an emergency call system, like Gardia for example, have on the daily routine of guests, caregivers, and care management?

Emergency call systems with fall detection, such as the Gardia emergency bracelet, would certainly be an additional aid in the daily operations of day care. Day care guests move freely throughout the facility. We, as a team, cannot and do not want to constantly observe the guests, but rather enable the greatest possible individuality. Should a fall occur in an unobserved moment, such a system would allow for timely action.

When does the need for day care go too far? When does another form of care need to be found?

Care in day care is provided for a certain period during the day. This presupposes that care at home is ensured by additional caregivers.

Persons with severe forms of endangering others or themselves cannot be cared for, out of consideration for all day care guests. In these situations, however, we are happy to advise on more suitable forms of care.

What is the biggest challenge you currently face as care management?

At our day care facility, the biggest challenge is convincing potential future guests and relatives that they can come as they are. On the part of relatives, there is often a great burden, combined with shame to express it. Often, for years, selfless care has been provided at home, without accepting any offers of help. Here, many empathetic counseling sessions are necessary to convey to relatives that they can accept an offer of help from day care with a clear conscience, to feel personal relief and to enable the person being cared for to have a pleasant, meaningful daily routine.

What challenges do caregivers face in day care?

Day care staff face the daily challenge of offering each guest individualized care and support with regard to their resources and illnesses. In addition, guests change daily, and different group dynamics constantly arise.

Through empathy and a feel for the moment, it is often necessary to change planned activities ad hoc and to respond to what the group and the individual guest need at that moment.

There are days when you plan an elaborate craft activity, nobody feels like it, and in the end, the whole group is sitting on the roof terrace eating ice cream - but that's what you call life!

Now a few questions about the conditions in your facility. Do you have fixed contract periods in your facility?

In the event of a deterioration in general health, the stay can be terminated at any time. Otherwise, termination is effective on the 3rd working day of the respective month.

How expensive is day care at your facility?

The costs for day care depend on the respective care level.

This is subsidized or partially completely covered by the care insurance fund. The future guest receives an individual cost breakdown before using day care.

What are your opening hours? Are day care facilities also open on weekends?

Our opening hours are Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Deviations are possible depending on the individual needs of relatives and by arrangement.

Why should guests choose your facility?

In our day care, every guest, with all their impairments and resources, is warmly welcomed. For us as a team, it is important that the guest feels comfortable.

For a guest to see that the person across from them in the group is also struggling with a potato on their fork, that something might end up under the table, and that all of this is perfectly fine, helps the guest to no longer prioritize their own impairments.

Even if abilities diminish or are completely lost with increasing age, it is possible to experience a day full of beautiful encounters, joy, and new experiences every day. It is always important for us as a team to plan our offerings with a sense of purpose.

Memory training improves recall, singing is simply fun, and harvesting and eating homegrown tomatoes from the raised bed brings pride.

Those who choose us will be

• accepted as they are

• can do what is good for them

• receive the help they need,

in a respectful environment where there is much laughter.

Since we are on the subject of decisions, do the relatives decide on the visit to the day care or the visitors themselves? 

Sometimes the visitors themselves decide to attend day care because they have little contact at home. Sometimes the relatives make the decision because the future guest is no longer cognitively able to make decisions.

Basically, however, a visit to day care depends on the well-being and consent of the guest.

What is the feedback from relatives?

Close exchange with relatives is very important to us. The feedback from relatives is predominantly very positive. We see criticism constructively and as potential for development.

Why did you choose this profession?

I chose elderly care because, in my opinion, help, care, and support for people are most necessary in this area of care. In addition, I am always motivated by the idea of making the best of every situation.

My guiding principle, regardless of illness or age, is "We still have today - and we use it!"

What was your best experience so far?

In this activity, you cannot name THE best experience - it is a series of beautiful experiences

• It is wonderful to learn that visiting the day care has significantly relaxed the home situation and everyone can breathe again.

• It's nice when guests say "it was a great day today" on their way out.

• And there's nothing more beautiful than seeing a shining smile on a very old, wrinkled face!

Thank you for the interview!

Are you interested in the services of the St. Antonius Senior Citizens' Center? For more information, visit their website now.