Deciding between long-term and short-term care for your aging parents or loved ones can be challenging, and our experts at Azure Shores Rehabilitation & Care Center are here to help. We host many people of advanced ages and disabled patients who live fulfilled lives in our nursing facilities. They find the experience indistinguishable from their regular lives because of our personalized services and nourishing social scene.
According to the American Health Care Association, over 900,000 people in the United States receive long-term or short-term treatment from assisted living facilities. In this explainer, our health care professionals will outline whether short-term or long-term care is right for you or your aging relatives.
What Is Short-Term Care, and Who Needs It?
A nursing home offers short-term care programs to help seniors and other individuals recover from illnesses, injuries, hospitalizations, and surgeries. Short-term programs may involve staying at an in-patient care facility, or skilled nurses may provide care at home. Most short-term care patients find Azure Shores Rehabilitation & Care Center via a recommendation from their doctors, who think their transition back to regular life can be overwhelming without professional assistance.
Many seniors, disabled individuals, and recovering patients might find it challenging to do laundry, prepare meals, and bathe without assistance. Doctors may recommend amateur helpers like relatives or nursing assistants to help them accomplish these tasks. If a patient requires wound redressing, vital sign monitoring, or speech and physical therapy, they will need care from specialists.
You can find four types of short-term care programs in an assisted living or senior care facility:
- Traditional short-term care programs place residents in a care setting where professionals can provide for their wants and needs.
- Short-term rehabilitation necessitates a short-term stay for occupational, speech, and physical therapy
- Adult daycare functions like respite care but with hourly rates.
- Respite care gives relatives a much-needed break from caring for seniors with memory problems and other disabilities.
What Is Long-Term Care and Who Requires It?
Assisted living facilities gear their long-term care services toward seniors and individuals with chronic or progressive health conditions, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, or Huntington’s. In rare cases, patients under long-term care may discontinue it after a few years, but most people will need it for life.
You can find four types of long-term care facilities for seniors.
- Independent living facilities are retirement homes with medical facilities.
- Assisted living communities offer care for self-sustaining patients who require help with small tasks.
- Nursing homes cater to patients who need continuous medical assistance.
- Continuing Care Retirement Communities are all-in-one facilities that house patients with different needs in separate areas.
Contact Us Today
At Azure Shores Rehabilitation & Care Center, the root of everything we offer is our love for people who realize that their elderly relatives can no longer properly care for themselves. Many of them require long-term care to live a fulfilling life. For more information about long-term and short-term care, contact us to schedule a tour of our facilities.
