While short and long term care contain similar tasks, each form of care services has its own purpose. Find out which one is better for you

If you have a loved one who is in need of home care services, then it is essential that you consider their specific needs. Your loved ones have unique care needs that must be met, and you need to understand these needs before looking for a home care agency.

By doing this, you’ll get them the care that they need from the right professional, ensuring that they have an easier time living their everyday lives.

Fortunately, a lot of home care services can be personalized to a patient’s own unique needs and can be continually adjusted for any changes.

With customized home care services come varying time frames to consider. When figuring out what kind of care to get, patients have the option of either receiving short-term care or long-term care.

While the two contain similar tasks, each form of care services has its own purpose. You must consider the needs of your loved ones, as well as the length of time they will require in-home care, before deciding whether to pursue short-term or long-term care options.

Short-Term Care

Short-term care is temporary care that is goal-oriented, and it can last from several days to a few months. Oftentimes, the purpose of short-term care is to help make an individuals’ transition back home from the hospital or care facility a smooth one. As such, short-term care is ideal for patients who recently had an illness, injury, or surgery and whose condition is expected to improve. When the patient has recovered and is able to live their lives without such assistance, care services are no longer necessary.

With short-term care, a custodial caregiver will provide patients with everyday unskilled assistance, helping with tasks and activities that may otherwise be too difficult for patients to do on their own as they recover. Caregivers help with activities of daily living which include bathing, dressing, and preparing meals. They can also do chores, monitor medication intake, get groceries, and run errands among other things.

Skilled care is less common for short-term care but will be necessary for those who need medical assistance at home, such as patients who recently had a stroke.

Long-Term Care

Unlike short-term care, long-term care isn’t temporary, which is the biggest difference between the two.  In fact, long-term care is provided regularly on an indefinite basis. The purpose of long-term care is to provide assistance to individuals who otherwise couldn’t live their everyday lives on their own. This kind of care service is suitable for patients who have physical limitations and progressive or chronic medical conditions, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or Parkinson’s disease.

Like with short-term care, patients can receive everyday unskilled assistance. Caregivers will help patients bathe, get dressed, and use the restroom as well as take care of household chores like meal preparation, light housekeeping, and transportation. However, the amount of care patients receive with long-term care is likely to increase with time as their conditions progress.

Skilled medical care can be more common with long-term care because of the patients’ conditions. With long-term care, it may be necessary to get your loved one skilled care in addition to unskilled care if they need medical assistance. Knowing this, long-term care services tend to include comprehensive treatment: personal care help, medical assistance, and therapeutic help.

Work with Assisting Hands

If you have an elderly loved one in need of non-medical assistance, short term or long term, then Assisting Hands Home Care, can help.

At Assisting Hands, we provide elderly care services to seniors in need, including both short-term care and long-term care. No matter how long your elderly relative needs assistance, we can help. Our staff will visit with you and your loved ones in their home to get a better understanding of their care needs so we can form an appropriate care plan.

With our senior care services, you can trust that your loved ones will receive the best possible care from our highly trained, compassionate caregivers, whether they need short-term or long-term care.

Request a Free Consultation

To request a free consultation with Assisting Hands Home Care in Park Ridge, IL, contact us at (224) 444-0844.