In this Vlog, Litherland, Kennedy & Associates Geriatric Care Manager Dedra Jize discusses National Long-Term Care Awareness Month and Five (5) Activities of Daily Living that determine the level of care one may need at home or in a community.
The Five (5) Activities of Daily Living that determine the level of care one may need at home or in a community include (1) dressing, (2) showering, (3) toileting, (4) transferring (usually from like a bed to a wheelchair or from a wheelchair to a toilet) and (5) getting food to your mouth to feed yourself.
Transcription:
Hi, I’m Dedra Jize, the Geriatric Care Manager at Litherland, Kennedy and Associates, estate planning and elder law attorneys. This month is Long-Term Care Awareness month. What does that mean? It means we want to bring awareness to what long-term care is and what are your options for that type of care.
When talking about long-term care, we have multiple definitions and it depends on what you are looking for – long-term care at a skilled nursing facility, or at home, or even assisted living. If you are fortunate enough to have a long-term care insurance policy then they have their own definitions as to how to activate the policy.
So let me break it down for you. For long-term care to occur in a skilled nursing facility, this is the highest level of care, the person must require assistance with at least three of the five activities of daily living.
What are those five activities of daily living?
They include dressing, showering, toileting, transferring – usually from like a bed to a wheelchair or from a wheelchair to a toilet, as well as the last one being getting food to your mouth to feed yourself.
Now if you are wanting to activate a long-term care policy, they have their own stipulations and usually they only require assistance with two of the activities of daily living; they also have a 90-day exclusion period.
If you’re looking for long-term care and you’re fortunate to be able to private pay this, you can have your long-term care in-home, assisted living, or in a skilled nursing facility and the level of care can be very minor and simple such as you just want assistance with housekeeping, cooking, maybe some medication management, all the way up to the high level of skilled nursing care which is requiring assistance with three of the five activities of daily living.
So if you’re private paying, you can have your care where you want it, at any level that you want it. If you have more questions about this, feel free to reach out to me. Thank you.
Contact Our Office
If you have questions about long-term care or estate planning in general, our caring staff is here to help you. Please feel free to reach out to our office by calling (408) 356-9200 or by using our contact page to send us a message.
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