•  Canada’s guide to retirement living and care
• Lifestyle options

Convalescent care

Short-term care to recuperate from surgery or illness

Convalescent care is a service available through many retirement homes, allowing seniors to recover post-surgery or heal from any other health care crisis or illness. Many residences offer this and respite care as an option, enabling recovery in a clean, safe medical environment. Residences listed here and offering this option may also have an on-site doctor, nurse, or other personal assistance. Amenities such as a pool or spa can also help speed your recovery. A short term recuperative, rehabilitative or recovery stay can make a world of difference to your long term health.

The benefits of convalescence in a retirement home

Today's retirement homes offer a unique solution that helps you get through post-operative recovery faster than other means. Returning home too soon after surgery can be a mistake and can slow your recovery unnecessarily; common dangers include the risk of infection and reinjury. Instead, seniors' homes near you offer a clinically clean environment, on-site health care and an envirnoment tailored to healing and care.

Common instances where a recuperative stay is ideal are:

• Post-surgery or post-operative care. This is especially true for hip or knee surgery where recovery time is lengthy.
• Post-illness. If you are befelled by a serious illness, booking a short stay post-hospitalization can be a good idea to make sure that you are fully healed.
• Post-fall. Falls are an unfortunate reality for seniors. A bad fall is often a cause for concern and can precipitate a realization that professional caregiving help has its place.
• Stroke rehabilitation is available at some care homes in your area.

Most commonly, retirement homes allowing convalescent care are ideally suited to welcome those recovering from hip surgery or knee surgery (or similar operations), where recovery is straightforward, and recuperation is ideally handled in this professional environment. Retirement residences allowing convalescent short term stays are not necessarily prepared to handle people recovering from more serious surgeries such as cancer surgery.

Short stays are always contingent on the availability of suites.

It is best to book a recuperative or rehabilitative stay as soon as you know your surgery date, especially if you have a preference for a local seniors' facility. You can book a recuperative stay through physician referral, through your Local Health Integration Network (in Ontario, LHINs) or other government care programs. You can also simply call local retirement homes listed below. You will be pleasantly surprised at how readily accommodating local residences are. You should be able to book the specific stay request of your choice.

Read retirement community reviews to find the best place near you, to book a convalescent care stay.

Convalescent care in different provinces

Typically, convalescent stays are available in homes that also have assisted living facilities and/or memory care. A number of provinces define convalescent care separately from respite care (targeted at offering a break to caregivers)¹. There are subsidies and other financial breaks available for these recuperative stays.

Convalescent care in British Columbia is defined separately from respite care by BC's Ministry of Health Services. It's available to clients with defined care needs who require a temporary care environment following hospitalization and preceding a return home. In British Columbia and other provinces across Canada, recuperative stays in a retirement home are booked through physician referral, though they can also be voluntary or under the auspices of other healthcare bodies.

Convalescent care in Ontario is also defined separately from respite care under the LHIN's Policy Manual, following from the province's Nursing Homes Act. Care beds can be assigned by the LHIN, and care costs are covered by government subsidies, under some strictly-followed eligibility requirements. Families might consider this as a trial stay in a retirement home in order to assess the value offered by local care homes. Families who do not qualify might still consider the value of a short stay in a retirement home and decide to pay out of their own pocket.

Convalescent care costs

Convalescent care is often priced based on a short stay, so daily costs might be a bit higher than other typical retirement home fees. Care costs start around $100 per day in many homes, depending on the level of care needed. If the patient needs extra care, such as transfer care or help with mobility and related issues, this will add to the fees charged. Costs, then, are similar to a stay in a fine hotel, with the added benefit of readily-available care staff and other help.

Costs per province, a survey:

Further advantages of a short stay in a retirement home

A local retirement home can be a perfect resource for families of seniors' recovering post-surgery. Residences welcome this type of stay and are eager to help. Rehabilitation for elderly patients is an area where retirement homes specialize better than any other type of care facility.

Typical recuperative stays in a retirement home are 2 to 6 weeks; the most-seen scenario for a convalescent stay is following surgery to joints or hips, where recovery time is longer than that allowed for by a hospital stay, and recovery at home alone is less than ideal. Seniors' care residences are well-prepared to offer short-term care for those who have had any type of illness, bad fall, surgery or other medical procedure. These are a perfect middle ground between hospitalization and a return home: a medical environment that feels like home, oftentimes with an onsite doctor, nursing or personal service staff, as well as medicine administration. A number of recovery stay homes have physiotherapists or occupational therapists on staff. You get the best of both worlds: a homelike setting with ideally tactical care and assistance.

If the patient has extra needs, care staff are also trained to offer targeted help with bathing, toileting and other ALDs. Staff training in the use of the Gentle Persuasive Approach may also be helpful in this caregiving situation.

In addition to a bed and care staff, retirement residences offer many other services and features that are ideal for those who are in recovery. These include:

• Daily housekeeping, linen laundry, bed making
• Assistance with mobility and other care needs (including catheter care, incontinence care, assistance with bathing, dressing, and other needs) may be provided at no extra cost in some residences
• Tray service or portering to the room may be available in some residences listed here

Trying out convalescent care can make your recovery so much better than it would be if you were to try recuperating at home on your own, even with a loved one on hand as a caregiver. Consider it "pampering yourself" if you want to, but it's really a very good idea to get the best professional care available while you recuperate from painful surgery or from any other medical crisis. You'll stay in better spirits, you'll be around other people, and you may even make new friends while you get rehabilitated with the aid of medical professionals.

As one administrator has told us, "We see some pretty frail people who come in here after an operation, and once they've been here for a few weeks or months, we see them thriving and smiling. They realize it's really a very different world here than they imagined... the activities, the environment, the people. They take part in activities and life inside the residence and they see that it's really the best place they can be."

Trial stays or short-term stays

Booking a post-operative care stay is also a great way to try out a retirement community. You may have some personal resistance to a retirement home, but a short stay can change people's mind and give people a positive glimpse of what life is like inside some of the best retirement homes around them. The care received and the features that you find in a temporary stay in a retirement home can be eye-opening.

Sources and further reading

Further resources:
Alberta's Seniors Health Strategic Clinical Network
BC's Guide to Your Care (PDF)
BC's Short term Residential Care Options
LHINs in Ontario: healthcareathome.ca/.

Notes:

¹As defined by many care homes and by both the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario, this care option is distinct from respite care, a service focused on offering temporary relief for caregivers of the elderly. This definition or distinction may not be held by all retirement homes listed at Comfort Life. Consult each home to be sure that they offer the convalescence service you require.
²According to Alberta Health Services, this is limited to four weeks per year. See seniors-housing.alberta.ca/seniors/SNA-items-funded.html.
³Figures from 2015: sunlife.ca/files/advisorabc/english/pdf/Completereport-LTC-Costs-BC.pdf