subject: Long Term Care, a Report by Stone [print this page] Long Term Care, a Report by Stone Long Term Care, a Report by Stone
Long-term care has become an increasingly urgent policy issue. The number of elderly Americans and their proportion of the nation's population are growing, and Americans who reach age 65 are living longer. This is how Robyn I. Stone has put LTC in his report titled Long-Term Care for the Elderly with Disabilities: Current Policy, Emerging Trends, and Implications for the Twenty-First Century.
Stone's report revealed the debate over LTC by policymakers and members of the public has ebbed and flowed during the past three decades. More and more Americans and their leaders face the dilemma of how to meet the needs of elders with chronic disabilities in the United States, he added.
Also, policymakers are struggling to define the roles of the federal and state governments and the private sector in financing and delivering care to elderly people with disabilities. They are bound to face three significant questions: (a) who should pay for long-term care, and how, (b) how should services to elders with disabilities and their families be designed, and who should deliver them, and, (c) how can the labour force delivering that care be recruited, trained, and maintained.
Stone stated in his report long term care is not easy to define. According to him, it encompasses a broad range of help with daily activities that chronically disabled individuals need for a prolonged period of time. The services include assistance with basic activities of daily living (ADLs), such as bathing, dressing, eating, or other personal care. Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), including household chores like meal preparation and cleaning; life management such as shopping, money management, and medication management; and transportation are serviced as well.
In terms of settings, Stone said LTC is provided in a range of settings, depending on the recipient's needs and preferences, the availability of informal support, and the source of reimbursement. These settings come in various forms including home-based community care, respite care, nursing homes and adult day care. Nowadays, the most common form is adult day care, in which elders with moderate disabilities receive supervision and personal care, as well as social integration and companionship in a group setting, usually during the work week from nine to five.
Stone added, most elderly people with LTC needs live at home, either in their own homes, with or without a spouse, or in the home of a close relative such as a daughter. In this setting, care may be defined as "home health care," which includes some skilled nursing and supervised custodial care, and "home care," which includes personal services like bathing, dressing, and toileting as well as housework such as meal preparation and laundry.
