Long Term Care in the Comfort of Your Own Home
Who Needs Long-Term Care?
Statistically, about 70% of people age 65 or older may require long-term care at some point in their life. The probability of needing personal care and health-related services increases with age, for women who are single or left alone after the death of a spouse or partner, or if someone is disabled or has a chronic illness such as diabetes or high blood pressure that requires monitoring and regular medication.
The average person needs long-term care services for about three years, although the figures tend to be shorter for men (2.2 years) than for women (3.7 years). About 20% will need it for more than five years.
What Are Long-Term Care Services?
Typical long-term care services might include:
- Assistance with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) including:
- Dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom
- Assistance when walking either with a walker or cane indoors or outside
- Maintaining client safety when transferring or getting up from a bed or chair
- Help in grocery shopping and preparing meals
- Light housekeeping
- Medication Reminders
- In-home nursing care
- Hospice Care
Long Term Care Is Also Called Custodial Care
Custodial care is a general term for maintaining comfort and safety in the client’s home care setting. Medicare does not usually pay for these services except for a short period of time after a hospitalization or when a doctor orders nursing visits for wound care, physical therapy or speech and occupational therapies.
Long Term Care Insurance
Individuals who require long-term care are generally not sick in the traditional sense, but instead, are unable to perform the basic activities of daily living (ADLs) without assistance such as dressing, bathing, eating, toileting, continence, transferring (getting in and out of a bed or chair), and walking. Many Long Term Care Insurance policies will cover some or all of the costs of home care. SelectCare will verify your policy benefit, submit all necessary documentation and follow up with the insurance company to ensure correct payments are sent out. In most cases, SelectCare will accept Assignment of Benefits for direct payment from the insurance company and send you a bill (if any) after the payment is applied to your account. You can use your long term care insurance to pay for your home care.
Finding A Compassionate Provider
SelectCare Home Care Services of New York City provides a broad range of long-term care options for residents of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx who need qualified companions, Home Health Aides, Live In Aides, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Registered Nurses. Our licensed professionals have the disposition, education, experience, and compassion to lovingly serve those in our charge.
We tailor our package of services to the needs of our clients and create a caregiving team of familiar faces always ready to step in if the regular care provider is not available. Coordinated by a nursing supervisor, this team approach allows us to monitor our patients and discern changes in their health and mental and emotional state that might signal the need for additional services. We then work with the family to either arrange for what is needed or expand our care plan, even if that includes hospice or end-of-life care.
If you are considering long-term care for a loved one, a needs assessment is the first step in developing a plan to provide services. You can schedule your free in-home care assessment appointment today by calling 212-505-3640 or by filling out the website contact form.
For great information regarding home care, download our “Free Home Care Starter Guide.”
Here’s more Long Term Care information on the following blog posts:
- “How to Use Long Term Care Insurance for Home Health Care“
- “The Importance of Long Term Care Planning“
- “Understanding the Impact of Media Overexposure and Long Term Health“
- “A Family Guide to Long Distance Caregiving“
- “The Difference Between Medicaid Managed Long Term Care Plans (MLTC) & Commercial Long Term Care Plans“
