Long-term care is a term that has many facets. Long-term care is comprised of a variety of services that meet people’s medical and non-medical requirements when they cannot care for themselves for long periods of time. It is a highly individualized care system that can be formally or informally provided. Formal facilities that provide long-term care go by various names such as residential continuing care facility, assisted living, nursing home, and personal care facility. In early stages, family members often provide informal long-term care by providing their parent personal care, meals, laundry services, housekeeping, and transportation services to and from appointments.
These informal family member care providers are often referred to as the “sandwich generation” – those people who support their own children while at the same time provide care for their aging parents. This comes at a time when they are generally still working and managing their own d