What Types of Long-Term Care Are There?

Not all long-term care is the same. Some types of long-term care are more hands-off whereas others are pretty intensive, providing care 24/7. And other types aren’t solely related to housing, but still offer assistance to seniors in a variety of ways.

Before we get started, let’s make sure we are all clear on ‘What is Long Term Care?‘: Long Term Care helps an individual perform what is known as Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). There are six basic ADLs: eating, bathing, getting dressed, toileting, transferring, and continence.

Hopefully, you are able to do all of those activities yourself throughout your life. But if you aren’t, then that’s where long term care help could come into play.

That said, let’s go through some of the most common types available.

Home-Based Care

Home-based long-term care is where someone stays in (or visits) your home and helps you live as independently as possible. While this could be care provided by family members, it can also include care from paid caregivers or health care professionals such as nurses, home health care aides, etc.

Many times home health care also includes part-time medical services such as physical therapy to help you get better with whatever is ailing you.

If you do end up needing long term care, this is typically the most ideal situation, if your health allows it. Why? Because it will mean that you can stay in your home and simply have someone come to help you with whatever you need, but it won’t uproot your life too much.

Residential Facilities

Residential facilities are most commonly associated with long-term care. These facilities are especially important when friends, family and even part-time caretakers are no longer able to provide the type of support that you need.

Here we’ll go through three main types of residential facilities:

Assisted Living: Assisted living is for those who need help with daily assistance but not as much as a nursing home. Assisted living facilities may have as few as 25 residents or as many as 120. Typically, a few “levels of care” are available with higher levels of care that costs more.

Assisted living residents are more likely to live in their apartments or rooms and share common places. They may have access to many services such as up to three meals a day, help with medication, assistance with personal care, housekeeping, security and on-site staff, laundry, and social and recreational activities.

Nursing homes: Nursing homes, also known as skilled nursing facilities, provide a variety of medical and personal care services. These services emphasize more on medical care than most assisted living facilities. These services include nursing care, three meals a day, 24-hour supervision, and assistance with everyday activities. Rehabilitation services like physical, occupational, and speech therapy are also provided to the patients.

Continuing Care Retirement Community: Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) also known as life care communities provide different levels of services in one area. Most of them provide independent housing, nursing care, and assisted living all on one campus. There are also healthcare and recreation facilities available.

In a CCRC, where you live depends on the quality of service you need. People who are unable to live independently either move to the assisted living facility or often receive home treatment in their independent living unit. If necessary, they will visit the CCRC’s nursing home.

What you need will of course depend on the condition of your health and what what kinds of help you need with the activities of daily living.

Alzheimer’s Care

There are several accommodation services available for people suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. This type of treatment center provides 24-hour assistance as well as planned programs to ensure a person’s welfare and quality of life.

Alzheimer’s care is normally given in an assisted living facility, but it can also be provided in nursing homes or personal care homes on occasion.

Long-term Alzheimer’s care residents are housed in semi-private residences and are given scheduled tasks by professional personnel.

Adult Day Care

Adult day-care services offer community care for elderly or disabled adults who remain at home and/or need assistance in routine everyday tasks due to physical or mental illness.

These individuals may live with a working relative who is unable to provide for them during the day. Adult day-care centers often provide social contact, therapeutic exercises, preventive health programs, and nutritious meals to elderly people.

Emergency Medical Alert System

This isn’t a type of long term care, but it is so important. So if you have an aging parent, please look into these.

Emergency management services use computer sensors to remotely respond to emergencies and other emergencies. In an emergency, the person wears a necklace or bracelet with a button to press.

When the button is pressed, emergency assistance is sent to the residence. This form of service is particularly beneficial to those who live alone or are at risk of falling.

Putting It All Together

There is a lot to know about long term care, but I hope this blog helps you understand the different types of options that are available. If you’d like to learn more about long-term care, and everything you need to be doing before you retire, you can pick up a free copy of my book 65 Questions To Ask And Answer Before You Retire. It’s available at http://freeretirementbooks.com/.