The lifetime care time-horizon
Respite care provides temporary relief to those caring for family members who might otherwise require permanent placement in a facility outside of the home. Respite programs provide planned short-term, time-limited breaks for families and other unpaid primary caregivers of adults with intellectual and physical disabilities.
Shared help from loved ones, and government part-time home care services, help relieve the primary at-home caregivers to enable them to maintain their wellness. It allows an ageing population to move gracefully towards the potential need for 24/7 care and a palliative care program when medical care or treatment concentrates on reducing the severity of the symptoms of diseases relating to ageing rather than striving to reverse the progression of the disease. At this final stage of care, the goal is to prevent and relieve suffering for people facing serious, long-term complex illnesses.
What does Long-term Care Insurance (LTC) offer? Long-term care insurance provides money for the care you both desire and need. With LTC Insurance, you have the following:
- Broader choices about the quality and amount of care you receive.
- Increase of choices when determining where you receive care and by whom.
You may want to consider Longterm Care Insurance for yourself or your loved ones, which helps pay for services the family members may not be able to provide. Talk to your advisor about the life insurance policies available for these services.
Sources: Canadian Institute for Health Information, Alzheimer Society website, Statistics Canada
Source: Some of the concepts and information are used with the permission of Patty Randall, who is widely considered a leading advocate on the need for care-years planning in our country. Visit her website: “Aging Successfully with Passion and Purpose and Care-Years Planning”, online at www.longtermcarecanada.com for discussions and ideas and to obtain family materials on this issue.