Thursday, August 27, 2009

 

Long-Term Care

 

            Long-term care encompasses several different sections of the broad health care field and involves caring for people of all ages who need assistance for an extended period of time.  Many times this care would continue throughout the remainder of the patient’s life, and the level of physical or mental shortcomings of the individual would determine the type and duration of nursing needed.  While it is a common belief that only the elderly are recipients of long-term care, there are also adults and children who utilize the same type of care due to handicaps. 

            I recently had some experience in this area when my eighty-six year old grandfather became very ill and began hallucinating.  Until that time, he had been living independently, but in view of the circumstances, my family and I investigated several different long-term care options, such as nursing homes, assisted living, and home health care.  There are a vast amount of options available to those seeking long-term care, and this creates a great deal of competition in the industry, which then leads to a staggering expense for those in need of assistance for an extended period of time.

            I also had the experience of helping patients who would need long-term care after they were released from South Lake Hospital when I volunteered there.  The majority of them would never be able to live on their own again due to the chronic conditions they suffered from.  This occurrence led me to become interested in the health care field in general, as well as possibly working in a long-term care facility to ensure that those with life-long illnesses and disabilities are cared for properly and are able to enjoy their life to the fullest extent possible.