Senior Care

Senior care, also known as elder care, is a type of service or services that are designed to help elderly individuals live a healthy and comfortable life as they age. These services focus on caring for the aged adult’s physical, mental, and medical health. There are a variety of types of senior care including home care, assisted living, nursing home care, memory care, independent living, continuing care, and personal care. Depending on the unique needs of the individual and resources available to them, aging adults can largely benefit from one or many senior care services. 

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Understanding Senior Care Options

There are a variety of different senior care options that are available to elderly adults as they age, but how do you know what type of senior care is best for you or your loved ones? Below we’ve outlined the most common types of senior care services and how they benefit elderly adults.

Home Care: Home care is designed to seniors that wish to stay in their home, but they need some assistance in some activities. These range from activities of daily living (ADL) to advanced memory care services.

Assisted Living: Assisted living is a type of senior care that focuses on assisting seniors with daily activities such as meal preparation, laundry, transportation, and services related to a senior’s medical needs. Assisted living communities typically serve as long-term living options. Generally speaking, assisted living communities consist of seniors that live in a supervised community, but for the most part only need assistance with certain activities.

Nursing Home Care: Similar to assisted living communities, nursing home care is a long-term care option that supports elderly citizens with their daily activities and medical needs. However, the major difference between nursing homes and assisted living is that nursing homes are similar to hospitals in that seniors generally share rooms with another resident and staff in nursing homes focus on providing medical care for seniors with moderate to severe medical illnesses. 

Memory Care: Just like it sounds, memory care is a type of senior care that focuses on providing specific medical care to elderly adults that have moderate to severe memory illnesses such as dementia and/or Alzheimer’s. Memory care usually takes places in a special wing of assisted living, nursing homes, or other long-term-care options.

Independent Living: Independent living is a type of senior living option that allows seniors to live independently in an apartment or townhome, while still being able to participate in group activities, such as meals, community events, etc. One of the major benefits of independent living is that it allows seniors to come and go as they please, but also takes away some common tasks (such a meal preparation, yard work, etc.) that the elderly adults may find more and more difficult to do as they age. Independent living communities also provide a variety of events and activities for residents to participate in. This encourages seniors to remain social and stay involved in activities they enjoy.

Continuing Care: Continuing care is a senior living option that provides a variety of senior care options that assist seniors as they age. This is especially useful for seniors because it allows them to stay in the same community as their health needs change over time. In this way, continuing care options provide multi-levels of care based on the needs of an elderly adult.

Personal Care: Personal care is a senior care option that provides assistance to seniors that are able to live at home, but need help with daily activities such as, bathing, using the toilet, dressing, meals, and transportation. However, personal care services do not assist with medical activities. Personal care is ideal for seniors that need assistance with basic daily tasks, but are not in need of advanced medical services.

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