What is Long Term Care?

Long-term care is the type of care you may need to perform normal activities of daily living (ADL’s) over an extended period of time. The need for long term care typically arises as part of our normal aging process, but can also be due to an injury or illness, such as a stroke, or due to a cognitive impairment, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Most long-term care is non-skilled personal care assistance, such as help performing everyday Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), which are:

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Eating
• Transferring (to or from bed or chair),
• Caring for incontinence, and
• Toileting

With cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer's disease or dementia, the caregiver may be needed to provide verbal cueing or reminders to you so that there is no threat to your safety.

The goal of the caregiver is to help you maximize your independence and functioning at a time when you are unable to be fully independent.