This section defines the kinds of care available, as well as the state oversight agency responsible for ensuring quality within facilities or programs. This list is in alphabetical order; however, for clarification purposes, I've include a chronological list of how a person progresses through the continuum of care.

Adult day care is particularly appropriate for a person whose needs are ordinarily met by their own family members, especially when those family members may have to work outside the home but are generally at home in the evenings and on weekends.

Social model adult day care is, as the name implies, oriented toward the social aspects of life and may include games, memory orientation exercises, music, dancing and reading in a supervised atmosphere. Social adult day care programs also organize field trips and special events. 

Most social programs do not have a medical component, such as a full-time nurse or physician on staff; however, staff at social programs maintain close contacts with the client's personal medical team in order to report observed significant changes in health care.

Medical model adult day health care, on the other hand, has a strong medical component, is usually staffed by at least one full-time registered nurse able to administer medicine and perform routine medical tasks, as well as on-site physician back-up when needed. Most medical models have an affiliation with either a hospital or nursing home and provide social activities on top of medical services. Some adult day health care programs specialize in one segment of the population or another (for example, the blind, AIDS patients, etc.).

Oversight agency: State Department of Health

Assisted living is administered through adult care facilities (ACFs) and consists of a "marriage" between the ACF and home and personal care agencies. Assisted living allows a person living in an ACF to remain in that setting even if he or she becomes more frail and needs extra medical or personal care services. While assisted living is relatively new in this state, it has been highly successful in other states by: (1) being most appropriate for the resident and disrupting the resident's life less than transfer to a higher-care facility would be; and (2) being more cost-effective than other institutionalized care would be.

Some organizations have constructed senior housing facilities, which are enhanced by bringing in a number of personal-assistance services, such as housekeeping, personal care, and home care, through a licensed agency. However, while these facilities can provide services similar to the State's definition of assisted living, they are not regulated in the same way and can often operate in a manner outside the state's purview. Any such facility still must offer its health services through a licensed home care agency, which will be regulated and licensed through the Department of Health.

Continue on to "Community Services / Continuing Care Retirement Communities / Enriched housing / Home care / Life care" >

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