Resources

Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs)
Sometimes called “Assisted Living” or “Board and Care” facilities—are non-medical facilities that provide a level of care that includes assistance with activities of daily living.
Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) serve persons 60 and older. They provide room, board, housekeeping, supervision, and personal care assistance with basic activities like personal hygiene, dressing, eating, and walking. Facilities usually centrally store and distribute medications for residents to self-administer.

This level of care and supervision is for people who are unable to live by themselves but who do not need 24 hour nursing care. They are considered non-medical facilities and are not required to have nurses, certified nursing assistants or doctors on staff. Other terms used to refer to this level of care are assisted living facilities, board and care homes, rest homes and that component of Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) that provide personal care and supervision.

Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly or Assisted Living Facilities must meet care and safety standards set by the State and are licensed and inspected by the Department of Social Services,


Caregiver
A caregiver is an unpaid or paid person who helps another individual with an impairment with his or her activities of daily living. Any person with a health impairment might use caregiving services to address their difficulties. Caregiving is most commonly used to address impairments related to old age, disability, a disease, or a mental disorder.

Typical duties of a caregiver might include taking care of someone who has a chronic illness or disease; managing medications or talk to doctors and nurses on someone’s behalf; helping to bathe or dress someone who is frail or disabled; or taking care of household chores, meals, or bills for someone who cannot do these things alone.


Home Health Care
At its basic level, “home health care” means exactly what it sounds like – medical care provided in a patient’s home. Home health care can include broad care given by skilled medical professionals, including skilled nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Home health care can also include skilled, non-medical care, such as medical social services or assistance with daily living from a highly qualified home health aide. As the Medicare program describes, home health care is unique as a care setting not only because the care is provided in the home, but the care itself is “usually less expensive, more convenient, and just as effective” as care given in a hospital or skilled nursing facility (SNF)


Hospice Care
Hospice care is a specialized care designed to provide support to you and your loved ones during an advanced illness. Hospice care focuses on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. The goal of hospice care is to enable you to have an alert, pain-free life … to live each day as fully as possible. Hospice care affirms life and views death as a natural process.


Independent Living

Communities, also known as retirement communities, senior living communities or independent retirement communities, are housing designed for seniors 55 and older.

Independent senior living communities commonly provide apartments, but some also offer cottages, condominiums, and single-family homes. Residents are seniors who do not require assistance with daily activities or 24/7 skilled nursing but may benefit from convenient services, senior-friendly surroundings, and increased social opportunities that independent senior living communities offer.

Many retirement communities offer dining services, basic housekeeping and laundry services, transportation to appointments and errands, activities, social programs, and access to exercise equipment. Some also offer emergency alert systems, live-in managers, and amenities like pools, spas, clubhouses, and on-site beauty and barber salons.

Independent senior living properties do not provide health care or assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as medication, bathing, eating, dressing, toileting and more.  Independent senior living differs from continuing care communities, which offer independent living along with multiple other levels of care, such as assisted living and skilled nursing, in one single residence.


Respite Care
Respite care is temporary relief care designed for families of children or adults with special needs. Respite care can range from a few hours of care provided on a one-time basis to overnight or extended care sessions. Respite care can be utilized on a regular or irregular basis and can be provided by family members, friends, skilled care providers or professionals. Respite care is designed to help families. Caretakers of children or adults with special needs often face serious problems and stress as a result of balancing the needs of their child or adult with special needs with the needs of other family members. These breaks, that respite care provides, allow families time to tend to the needs of their children, spouses, and themselves.


ARF – Adult Residential Facility
Adult Residential Facilities (ARF) are facilities of any capacity that provide 24-hour non-medical care for adults ages 18 through 59, who are unable to provide for their own daily needs. Adults may be physically handicapped, developmentally disabled, and/or mentally disabled.