Assisted living in the context of "Inova Health System"

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⭐ Core Definition: Assisted living

An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States. Still, the setting is similar to a retirement home, in the sense that facilities provide a group living environment and typically cater to an older adult population. There is also Caribbean assisted living, which offers a similar service in a resort-like environment (somewhat like assisted vacationing).

The expansion of assisted living has been the shift from "care as service" to "care as business" in the broader health care system predicted in 1982. A consumer-driven industry, assisted living offers a wide range of options, levels of care, and diversity of services (Lockhart, 2009) and is subject to state rather than federal regulatory oversight. What "Assisted living" means depends on both the state and provider in question: variations in state regulatory definitions are significant and provider variables include everything from philosophy, geographic location and auspice, to organizational size and structure. Assisted living evolved from small "board and care" or "personal care" homes and offers a "social model" of care (compared to the medical model of a skilled nursing facility). The assisted living industry is a segment of the senior housing industry. Assisted living services can be delivered in stand-alone facilities or as part of a multi-level senior living community. The industry is fragmented and dominated by for-profit providers. In 2010, six of the seventy largest providers were non-profit, and none of the top twenty were non-profit (Martin, 2010). Information in this edit is from an article published in 2012 that reviewed the industry and reports results of a research study of assisted living facilities.

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👉 Assisted living in the context of Inova Health System

Inova Health System is a not-for-profit health organization based in Falls Church, Virginia, United States, near Washington, D.C. The system is a network of hospitals, outpatient services, assisted living and long-term care facilities, and healthcare centers in the Northern Virginia market.

The system's hospitals provide much of the healthcare needs for citizens in Northern Virginia, including the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church and Fairfax County and Loudoun County. The flagship hospital, Inova Fairfax Hospital, has been recognized as one of the best hospitals in the nation by HealthGrades and U.S. News & World Report.

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Assisted living in the context of Group home

A group home, congregate living facility, care home (the latter especially in British English and Australian English), adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living as well as medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children or young people who cannot live with their families or afford their own homes, people with chronic disabilities who may be adults or seniors, or people with dementia and related aged illnesses. Typically, there are no more than six residents, and there is at least one trained caregiver there 24 hours a day. In some early "model programs", a house manager, night manager, weekend activity coordinator, and four part-time skill teachers were reported. Originally, the term group home referred to homes of 8 to 16 individuals, which was a state-mandated size during deinstitutionalization. Residential nursing facilities, also included in this article, may be as large as 100 individuals in 2015, which is no longer the case in fields such as intellectual and developmental disabilities. Depending on the severity of the condition requiring one to need to live in a group home, some clients are able to attend day programs and most clients are able to live normal lifestyles.

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Assisted living in the context of Elderly care

Elderly care, or simply eldercare (also known in parts of the English-speaking world as aged care), serves the needs of old adults. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes (often called residential care), hospice care, and home care.

Elderly care emphasizes the social and personal requirements of senior citizens who wish to age with dignity while needing assistance with daily activities and with healthcare. Much elderly care is unpaid.

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Assisted living in the context of Nursing home

A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), rest homes, long-term care facilities or more informally old people's homes. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to indicate whether the institutions are public or private, and whether they provide mostly assisted living, or nursing care and emergency medical care. Nursing homes are used by people who do not need to be in a hospital, but require care that is hard to provide in a home setting. The nursing home staff attends to the patients' medical and other needs. Most nursing homes have nursing aides and skilled nurses on hand 24 hours a day.

In the United States, while nearly 1 in 10 residents aged 75 to 84 stays in a nursing home for five or more years, nearly 3 in 10 residents in that age group stay less than 100 days, the maximum duration covered by Medicare, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. Some nursing homes also provide short-term rehabilitative stays following surgery, illness, or injury. Services may include physical therapy, occupational therapy, or speech-language therapy. Nursing homes also offer other services, such as planned activities and daily housekeeping. Nursing homes may offer memory care services, often called dementia care.

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Assisted living in the context of Long-term care

Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and coordinated services that promote independence, maximize patients' quality of life, and meet patients' needs over a period of time.

It is common for long-term care to provide custodial and non-skilled care, such as assisting with activities of daily living like dressing, feeding, using the bathroom, meal preparation, functional transfers and safe restroom use. Increasingly, long-term care involves providing a level of medical care that requires the expertise of skilled practitioners to address the multiple long-term conditions associated with older populations. Long-term care can be provided at home, in the community, in assisted living facilities or in nursing homes. Long-term care may be needed by people of any age, although it is a more common need for senior citizens.

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