Home-based Long-Term Care Services: Everything You Need to Know

Most home-based services include personal care, such as assistance with washing, clothing, medication administration, and supervision to ensure a person's safety.

Fremont, CA: Long-term care encompasses a wide range of services aimed at meeting a person's health or personal care requirements over a short or long period. When people can no longer undertake daily activities on their own, these services help them live as freely and safely as possible.

Depending on a person's needs, various caregivers offer long-term care in multiple locations. Most long-term care is delivered at home by unpaid relatives and friends, and it can also be administered at an institution, such as a nursing home, or in the community, such as an adult day care center.

Personal care is the most prevalent sort of long-term care—assistance with daily tasks, sometimes known as "activities of daily life." Bathing, clothing, grooming, using the bathroom, eating, and moving around—for example, getting out of bed and into a chair—are examples of these activities.

Community services such as food, adult daycare, and transportation frequently get included in long-term care. 

When a person has a chronic, continuing health condition or impairment, they frequently require long-term care. Long-term care may be necessary unexpectedly, such as after a heart attack or stroke. Most of the time, though, it develops gradually as individuals age and become frailer or as sickness or disability worsens.

What are Home-Based Long-Term Care Services?

Home-based long-term care services include health, personal, and support services to assist people in remaining at home and living as independently as possible. The majority of long-term care is delivered in the person's home or at a family member's home. In-home services can be short-term (for someone recovering from surgery, for example) or long-term (for persons who require continuing assistance).

Most home-based services include personal care, such as assistance with washing, clothing, medication administration, and supervision to ensure a person's safety. The majority of this form of care get provided by unpaid family members, partners, friends, and neighbors.