What In-Home Treatment Is Available For Your Injured Or Ill Child?

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If you're a working parent, you may compulsively hoard your paid sick days -- even coming into work sick yourself -- so that you'll be able to take time off to care for an ill child. However, for times when your child is injured or ill enough to spend an extended time out of school or daycare, you may find that you must return to work before your child is fully recovered. Fortunately, most areas offer nursing services that can help ensure your child remains on the road to recovery while allowing you to go back to work. Read on to learn more about the home health care options available for your child.

Does your child need full-time or intermittent care?

The type of care you'll need to seek largely depends on your child's age and abilities. For upper elementary school-aged children who are capable of spending brief periods of time alone, intermittent care may be the best option. In this situation, a caregiver will visit your home several times or more per day to help your child use the restroom and perform any medical tasks (like administering medicine or changing surgical dressing). If your child requires physical therapy, these therapists can also perform most treatments at home without requiring you to bring your child to a facility.

For younger children, you'll likely need to hire a full-time caregiver who can be there during the time you're at work. If you seek this care through a home health agency, these caregivers are licensed to perform certain medical tasks, giving them more ability than most babysitters and daycares to accommodate your child's temporary medical needs.

How can you pay for in-home nursing care?

You may worry that you'll wind up paying more in nursing expenses than you'll make by returning to work. However, there are several ways you can help defray these costs.

If your child qualifies for Medicaid, it's likely that short-term medical assistance will be partially or even fully covered by the Medicaid program. As long as the caregiver you select primarily performs medical (rather than personal care) tasks, this should qualify as eligible short-term nursing care. (You may opt to pay a babysitter to pop in a few times per day to help with personal care tasks like bathing, dressing, or fixing meals). 

In other cases, your primary healthcare policy could cover at least some portion of the expenses incurred in caring for a sick child. You may want to contact your insurance representative to see which services might be eligible for coverage or reimbursement. For other information, speak with professionals like Holly Heights Nursing Home.


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