Long Term Care represents a variety of services that include medical and non-medical care to people who have a chronic illness or disability. Long-term care helps meet health or personal needs. Most long-term care is to assist people with support services such as activities of daily living like dressing, bathing, and toileting. Long-term care can be provided at home, in the community, in an assisted living facility or in a nursing home. It is important to remember that you may need long-term care at any age.

Independent Living: A living arrangement that maximizes independence and self-determination, especially of disabled persons living in a community instead of in a medical facility.

This movement asserts that people with disabilities should have the same civil rights and life choices as people without disabilities. In Independent Living, two or three meals are included along with transportation, weekly housekeeping and recreational activities.

OUR FACILITIES ARE LICENSED by AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration). They are defined by the agency as follows:

Adult Family Care Home – Adult Family Care Homes provide full-time, family-type living in a private home for up to five elderly persons or adults with a disability who are not related to the owner. The owner lives in the same house as the residents. The basic services include, but are not limited to: housing and nutritional meals; help with the activities of daily living, like bathing, dressing, eating, walking, physical transfer, giving medications or helping residents give themselves medications; supervision of residents; arrange for health care services; provide or arrange
for transportation to health care services; health monitoring; and
social activities. Adult family care homes are licensed and surveyed
by the State of Florida.

Assisted Living Facility – Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) provide full-time living arrangements in the least restrictive and most home-like setting. The basic services include, but are not limited to: housing and nutritional meals; help with the activities of daily living, like bathing, dressing, eating, walking, physical transfer, giving medications or helping residents give themselves medications; arrange for health care services; provide or arrange for transportation to health care services; health monitoring; respite care; and social activities. Assisted living facilities are licensed and surveyed by the State of Florida.

LICENSES

• STD: Standard – A resident in a Standard ALF must meet certain criteria, such as being able to perform the activities of daily living like eating, walking, and toileting, which can be done with supervision or assistance. The services provided are described in the prior paragraph.
• LMH: Limited Mental Health – If an ALF serves three or more mental health residents they must have a LMH license and provide services for these residents' special needs.
• LNS: Limited Nursing Services – An ALF with a LNS license offers some limited nursing services as defined by law, but does not include 24-hour nursing supervision.
• ECC: Extended Congregate Care – An ALF with an ECC license may keep residents who become frailer than would normally be permitted in order for the resident to age in place. For example with an ECC license the facility can provide total help with bathing, dressing, grooming and toileting, and can provide or arrange for rehabilitative services, along with other services. However, this does not include 24-hour nursing services.

CCRC’s

Alternative community housing arrangements include retirement communities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), and senior-oriented apartment complexes. Community-based services include Meals-on-Wheels, congregate meal sites, homemaker services, and simple friendly visits.

Alzheimer's Care

Special accommodations are made for residents with Alzheimer's, dementia, or related diseases. Such accommodations include separate living areas and specific daily activities for the residents. The facility has staff trained in the care of patients with Alzheimer's, dementia or related diseases.

What is a Nursing Home?

A nursing home is an entity that provides skilled nursing care and rehabilitation services to people with illnesses, injuries or functional disabilities. Most facilities serve the elderly. However, some facilities provide services to younger individuals with special needs such as the developmentally disabled, mentally ill, and those requiring drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Nursing homes are generally stand alone facilities, but some are operated within a hospital or retirement community.

Nursing Home Services

The level of care provided by nursing homes has increased significantly over the past decade. Many homes now provide much of the nursing care that was previously provided in a hospital setting. As a result, most nursing homes now focus their attention on rehabilitation, so that their clients can return to their own homes or an assisted living facility as soon as possible. Some of the services a nursing home may provide include:

Physical therapy
Occupational therapy
Speech therapy
Respiratory therapy