Elder Care

Skilled Care vs. Custodial Care Regardless of the location in which it is provided, at the highest level there are two types of care, skilled care and custodial care.  Skilled care describes services that can be given only by skilled or licensed medical personnel. Custodial care (also called non-skilled care) helps with activities of daily living (ADLs), such as bathing, dressing and eating. Custodial care is typical for seniors with Alzheimer's or dementia. Both skilled and custodial care can be provided at home, in adult day care or in a residential care setting such as a nursing home, assisted living community or adult foster care home.

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Assisted Living vs. Memory Care Both assisted living and memory care are residences that offer 24-hr personal care assistance as well as meals, social activities and other amenities. However, memory care is intended only for persons with dementia, usually related to Alzheimer’s Disease but also dementia from Parkinson’s, Huntington's and most other forms of dementia. There are several differences between assisted living and memory care. Typically, the staff-to-resident ratio in memory care is lower. Security in memory care is increased; external access is restricted to prevent wandering. Different types of recreational activities are organized with fewer offsite outings. Consequently, memory care is more expensive than assisted living by approximately 25%. State and regional costs are available here.

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Home Care vs. Home Health Care These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but there is an important distinction. While both types of care are provided in the individual's home, home care generally means custodial or unskilled care is being provided. For example, assistance is provided with bathing and dressing the individual, help with laundry, cooking and accompanying them to doctors’ appointments or on other errands. One may also hear this type of care referred to as personal care or attendant care although those terms are not exclusively for care provided in the home. Home health care refers to a higher level of care which requires medical training. This includes procedures such as checking the individual's vitals, respiration and assisting with braces, artificial limbs and other medical equipment such as ventilators. To be clear, it is not unusual for home health care providers to also provide custodial care during their home visits.

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Adult Day Social Care vs. Adult Day Health Care The term adult day care is used interchangeably and can refer to adult day social care or adult day medical care. Adult day social care provides seniors with supervision and care in a structured setting during daytime hours usually only on weekdays. It is often used to allow their caregivers to go to work. A variety of activities, meals and some therapies are offered. Adult day health care typically provides everything adult day social care does but in addition has medical services equivalent or almost equivalent to those found in nursing homes.

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Palliative Care vs. Hospice Care Palliative is a type of care that focuses on relieving patients of their pain and suffering instead of medical care which has the objective curing or treating the underlying conditions.  Hospice care, on the other hand is an encompassing approach to treating terminally ill patients in the last weeks or months of their lives. While hospice very often includes palliative care, not all persons receiving palliative care are in hospice.

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