Levels of Elder Care

The type and amount of care that an elderly person requires depends on the individual's physical and mental health status and subsequent needs. Some seniors do quite well on their own with minimal assistance while others require more comprehensive care and assistance. Care levels range from sheltered care to hospice. If possible, the elderly person should be included in the decision-making process.

Sheltered Care

• The first level of care is called sheltered care, which means that the person in question is independent for the most part but may require some help with housework or other types of daily living activities. Providers of sheltered care monitor medications, seeing that an individual is taking his medicine on a timely basis and in an appropriate fashion; housekeeping services are provided as are cooking and transportation, laundry, bathing and dressing, housecleaning and companionship. Adult day care falls under this care. It provides monitoring and companionship for the elderly person.

Assisted Living

• Assisted living is the next level of elder care. An individual may have issues with mobility that make it difficult if not impossible to live completely independently. In this case, the individual can benefit from living in an assisted living facility, which is a residential situation that accommodates the needs of the individual. At this type of facility there is 24-hour assistance and supervision provided as well as health-related services, group activities, a focus on accommodating the individual needs of each person and provision of a safe environment. The goal is to maintain the residents' autonomy, dignity and independence as much as possible and ensuring their privacy.

Intermediate or Skilled Nursing Care

• Those individuals who require 24-hour nursing need the next level of elder care, which is called intermediate care or skilled nursing care. When an individual is not capable of living independently, residing in a facility that provides intermediate care may be the answer. Therapy is provided to the residents, including occupation and physical therapy, as well as social services, rehabilitation programs and social activities.

Subacute Care

• When an individual requires complex medical care but doesn't need the care that is provided in an acute hospital setting this is called subacute care, which is afforded in skilled nursing facilities. In a subacute setting, the individual is seen by a physician and is tended to by registered nurses. Her condition is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Hospice

• Hospice is the last level of care. When an individual becomes a hospice patient this means that he is no longer responding to treatments that are cure-oriented because he has a life-limiting illness. Hospice workers are skilled in pain management and provide care during a patient's last days of life. Hospice care is comprehensive. It includes addressing the impact that the patient's illness and imminent death is having on the patient's family as well as on the patient himself. Hospice workers are trained in bereavement.