The Elimcare Communities

Long-Term Care

Long-term care is a broad term, encompassing at least seven different types of care. For example:		Elim Gardens
	In-Home Care, a program where a senior can stay in his/her own home and a caregiver will come to this home to assist that senior from several times a week to seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
	Adult Day Care, a program where a senior may be dropped-off by his/her primary caregiver/family at a senior center during the working day, and the senior’s needs will be met through activities, meals, and rest by caregivers at the center. This program allows family caregivers freedom from caregiving during the work week.
	Respite Care, a program where a senior may be placed in an assisted living community for a few days while his/her family caregivers can take a rest from providing care.
	Independent Senior Living Care, offered through non-licensed communities that cater to seniors who want to begin to “downsize” and move into a condo/apartment, luxury-style facility where meals, activities, and a menu of social activities are offered.
	Assisted Living Care, offered through licensed communities designed to assist seniors with some activities of daily living through non-medical, custodial caregivers. Some of these communities may have a memory-loss wing. Others may be stand alone memory loss communities.
	Skilled Nursing Care, offered through licensed communities designed to assist seniors with activities of daily living and medical care through licensed nurses (e.g. CNAs, LVNs, & RNs). Because these communities offer a higher level of care, they are usually styled to to reflect a hospital’s ambiance.
	Hospice Care, a medical program designed to minimize the pain and maximize the memories for seniors who usually have less than six months to live. This care may be carried out within a resident’s own home, an assisted living or a skilled nursing community.

It’s very easy to become confused on exactly what a particular senior may need at any given time. In addition, most long-term care requires private and/or insurance pay. Only skilled nursing and hospice may offer some governmental assistance through either medicare and/or Medi-Cal.

The Search

When seniors wish to begin downsizing and/or no longer are able to reside safely within the security and comfort of their own home, a long-term care alternative is usually explored. Three alternatives are available, depending on the senior’s need.

The first option may be Independent Senior Living (ISL). These are non-licensed, senior condos or apartments that cater to the 55 and up generations. When an individual or couple wants to begin “downsizing” and “simplifying” their lifestyle, this option becomes an excellent beginning point. These popular accommodations for seniors are bursting upon the scene across our state and country. This lifestyle offers an attractive “NEXT STEP” for an individual or couples wanting to begin to place their affairs in order. These are usually private and/or insurance pay communities. Elimcare’s next building project on West Herndon (e.g. Elim Gardens) envisions this type of community.
 

Assisted living communities are not required to employ skilled nurses since they are charged with the responsibility of administering custodial care. However, some assisted living communities may have a licensed nurse/s on staff. All assisted living communities employ caregivers who are trained to give custodial care for non-medical residents, assisting with their activities of daily living.

Activities of daily living include help with personal hygiene, dressing, eating, or sleeping. It may also include general orientation as to “who residents are” and “where they are.” Social interaction may be yet another need area. In memory-loss communities, a principle aspect of care is that of “re-directing” the strong tendency to wander. Also, memory-loss deals with residents who have a continual state of confusion with no effective date and time orientation. These very stressful behavioral needs are the very essence of what assisted living communities afford their residents through their structured daily activities schedules, run by carefully chosen, screened and continually trained caregivers. Elimcare offers Elim Gardens in northwest Fresno for seniors needing assisted living care and Elim Place in Sanger for seniors needing memory-loss assisted living care.
 

Alzheimer's Living Center at Elim

A third option may be a skilled nursing community (SNF). These state licensed communities offer a higher level-of-care. Their caregiving is medical in nature. Thus, caregivers are licensed nurses (e.g. CNAs, LVNs, RNs, etc). These communities are designed to meet the medical needs seniors experience as they age. Consequently, these skilled nursing communities tend to be designed to feel and look much like a hospital since their residents are usually in need of medical attention. These may be private and/or insurance pay communities, but if qualified, medicare and Medi-Cal may also offer some financial assistance, but possibly not indefinitely. Elimcare offers the Alzheimer’s Living Center at Elim for seniors needing memory-loss, medical care.

Baby Boomers are aging. The national census estimates that 4.5 million individuals (which is rapidly increasing) are professionally diagnosed as afflicted with Alzheimer’s or directly related dementia disorders, and an estimated 3,500 families reside within the greater Central Valley region of California (per the Regional Alzheimer’s Diagnostic Center of Fresno; affiliated with the California State University and the National Alzheimer’s Assoc. of Chicago, IL). The need far exceeds all the combined facility resources available within this region. Sadly, the demand for our services greatly exceeds our ability to even begin to meet the needs for long-term care.

Visit both and Elim Gardens, Elim Place, or the Alzheimer's Living Center at Elim to discover your long-term options with Elimcare Communities