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Nextsteps1 Asked November 2017

What's the difference between long term care and Assissted living?

geewiz Nov 2017
Not only do the terms vary regionally, but sometimes within the same geographic area!!! It is often up to the facility, so anyone considering moving someone to a facility should ask at what point does that place no longer work.I took 3 people through assisted living. Here are my experiences: 1st person. Entered memory care post rehab for hip surgery. 18 months later with 6 months on hospice, we moved them to in patient hospice for the last week.  The AL would have kept them, but the hospice unit was more suitable.
2 nd person. Entered assisted living. Stayed there through a steady decline in memory, though this was not the memory care section. After a fall and surgery ,  rehab - It went well but things did fail and the person stayed at the nursing home for the last few days of life --- following a sharp decline.
3rd person. Individual entered assisted living. 5 years later with sharp declines in memory and mobility, the person had a heart attack, was taken to the hospital and didn't make it home.
All 3 of these people were almost totally bedridden at the end and needed a great deal of assistance to get to meals and toilets. All were handled in assisted living.

freqflyer Nov 2017
Me think the terms vary from area to area. Where I live, long-term-care is for someone who is pretty much bedridden and who needs a lot of physical and medical help. My Mom lived in long-term-care in a shared room, and she was self-pay. It could be similar to a nursing home.

Assisted Living here is usually a studio apartment, is for those who can still take care of themselves but need some help and their mind is clear.

Assisted Living/Memory Care, again studio apartment, the residents need help with bathing, have some mobility issues, and have Alzheiemer's/Dementia thus are on a locked floor for safety. Some places had beds for those who are bed ridden.

Independent Living is an one or two bedroom apartment, fairly decent size, with full kitchen, living room. The resident has weekly housekeeping, and linen service. Sometimes all their meals in the dining room or just one meal since they have a full kitchen. Plus there are options available, such a MedTech for managing their medicines.

I wish there were standard terms, as sometimes it can get confusing.

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cwillie Nov 2017
Interesting Katiekate, where I live that would be called Independent Living, with AL offering additional medical services, a stepping stone to full care in a nursing home/skilled nursing facility.

Katiekate Nov 2017
Assisted living means a facility where the resident takes care of themselves....the facility offers meals in a common dining room, housekeeping service, etc. but..not medical supervision. Once a resident needs medical supervision daily they must move out.

My In-laws were in such a place....it was private pay, so the place was beautiful ... they owned their apartment, and paid month service fees. They loved it, but after FIL had a massive stroke he needed daily medical assistance and they ended up selling the apartment and moving to a nursing home as MIL was physically unable to live independently and FIL could no longer help her. They both needed the care of a NH

BarbBrooklyn Nov 2017
Long term care is a generic term. It includes nursing home, memory care, assisted living and perhaps Independent Living as subcategories. Short term care ( for folks who are expected to go back to their own living situation) is rehab.

If you have more specific concerns, please ask!

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