More Senior Care Staff Doesn’t Mean More Care: Why Aging At Home Still Wins

Here’s a hard truth no one tells you until it’s too late: Being in a building full of nurses and staff doesn’t guarantee better care.

Families hear “24-hour staff” and think their parent will have someone watching over them like a hawk. But most don’t realize that in a nursing home, that care is shared, scheduled, and spread thin. Your mom might wait half an hour just to get help to the bathroom. And Dad? He might miss lunch because no one noticed he never got out of bed.

Meanwhile, back at home, a part-time home care aide is folding the laundry, making eggs, and chatting with someone about the Yankees, all before 11 a.m.

So let’s talk about the numbers.

As of 2024, the federal government now requires nursing homes to provide just 3.48 hours of daily care per resident. That includes 0.55 hours from a registered nurse (that’s 33 minutes), and 2.45 hours from a nurse aide (about 2.5 hours). The rest is sprinkled in from other staff. And guess what? Thanks to a new rule change, nursing homes are no longer required to have a nurse on-site 24/7. That’s right, not even overnight.

Now picture this: four hours a day with a home care aide in your own space. No roommates, no waiting, no rotating staff. Just real help from someone who knows your dad likes two sugars in his tea and your mom hates wearing socks. That’s 28 hours a week of one-on-one support  and it usually costs less than assisted living or a private nursing home room. Some home care agencies, like mine, don’t even require that many hours a week to get started. They encourage you to start small and see how it goes.

How Much Does It Cost For Senior Care:

You see the difference, right?

But here’s what numbers don’t show:

• Who notices if Mom didn’t eat lunch?
• Who hears the change in Dad’s breathing before it becomes pneumonia?
• Who treats your parent like a human being, not a task list?
• Who keeps you informed regularly?

That’s what real care looks like. And it usually happens at home. This is why 9 out of 10 seniors will tell you they prefer to age in place.

Carol, one of the daughters I work with, learned this the hard way. She placed her dad in a top-rated community, chandeliers in the dining room, fresh flowers in the lobby. But three months in, she found out he hadn’t had a shower in a week. No one was being cruel. They were just busy. Too many residents. Too little time. She brought him home, hired a part-time aide, and now? He’s back to telling dad jokes and watering the houseplants.

This isn’t about bashing senior communities. I know many do incredible work under tough circumstances. But families deserve to know the full story. More uniforms in a hallway doesn’t always mean more hands helping your loved one.

If you’re deciding between home and a nursing home, ask yourself this:

“Who’s really going to notice if Dad skips dinner?”

If the answer is “a home aide who’s already cooking it,” then you know where he belongs.

Need help figuring out what kind of support makes sense for your family? Let’s talk through it, coffee optional, honesty required.

Bryan Eisenberg