Duluth Nursing Homes

Duluth nursing homes provide a place of residence and advanced medical, social and custodial treatment for patients with many different illnesses. Area nursing homes, or skilled nursing facilities, offer the highest level of treatment patients can find outside a hospital. Extensive and individualized plans of care are carried out by an interdisciplinary team of caregivers. Physicians, nurses, nursing aids, specialists, therapists, social workers and non-medical staff cooperate to deliver periodic to continuous skilled care for all nursing home residents.

The two main forms of nursing care are short-term and long-term care. Some Duluth skilled nursing facilities contain expert care units, separated from their general amenities, for patients with specific medical concerns like memory loss or osteoarthritis.

Short-term care is based on rehabilitation efforts for patients who have recently had acute medical trauma like strokes, heart attacks, aneurisms, falls and surgeries. Nearly three of every four short-term patients have been hospitalized prior to their nursing stay. Patients receive help regaining, restoring and rebuilding strength and function from nursing professionals that prescribe a personalized course of action. Patients often take sessions of speech, respiratory, occupational or physical therapy under short-term care. Patients do not look to fully recover from the ill effects of their medical event through short-term nursing care. At a certain level of health, patients are discharged and often choose to move to assisted living facilities or in home care.

For future short-term nursing patients, hospital care is a vital component to their recuperation. Quality treatment from skilled doctors can ensure that patients are given proper medical treatment during the first few days of recovery. Top notch health care in Duluth, based on patients’ hospital experiences, can be found at St. Luke’s Hospital and Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Long-term nursing care patients need extensive and responsive care for diagnoses like general physical or mental decline, dementia, Parkinson’s, spinal injuries, hypothyroidism or cardiovascular disease. Their illnesses demand complex forms of treatment. Their medical needs are met by nurses and doctors who are on call around-the-clock. They administer routine health check-ups and perform medical skilled like tracheostomies, injections, wound care, medication adjustments and blood testing. Non-medical personnel aid patients with custodial care needs and general hygiene. Recreational planners and social workers try to give patients reassurance, companionship and independence through home-wide games, events, activities, dinners and outings.

Nursing care costs in Duluth are higher than the national average and over $600 above the Minnesota median. Private and semi-private SNF rooms bear expected monthly costs of $7,764 and $7,168, respectively. Adult day health care, homemaker services and home health aide cost $1,430, $3,949 and $4,335 per month, respectively. Assisted living rooms have a monthly cost of $3,850 per month.

The high cost of nursing care is exacerbated by the fact that traditional health insurance does not provide coverage. Seniors and their families who do not qualify for government programs or cannot afford long-term care insurance must find private ways of financing skilled care. This often forces them to prematurely break into their retirement savings or to borrow against other assets. For patients with extended-care needs, nursing care costs can sometimes bankrupt families.

A long-term care stay is in the future of an estimated 70 percent of seniors over 65. Preparing and planning for the need well in advance can help them protect their assets for their spouse and children. Our site wants to help seniors and their loved ones understand the many complex issues regarding skilled nursing care, so they can make an educated decision that will result in a SNF that meets their financial, medical and emotional needs.