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Until you became the caregiver for
an elderly person, you probably
were not familiar with the term
“respite care” and had not given
much thought to what respite care
means. However, the chances are
good that, at some point in your
life, you either used respite care to
help yourself regroup or were
placed in respite care while your
caregivers got a break. That is
because babysitters, summer
camps, and even sleepovers with
other responsible adults are ways
that adults providing care for chil-
dren get respite. They are informal
methods of respite care that allow
parents to get a break from their
duties and recharge, so that they
can provide the high-standard of
care they want to provide for their
children.
Society has not established sim-
ilar informal means of providing
respite care for adults.
While there are a wide variety of
formal and informal venues for
providing respite for caregivers of
children, there are not as many
options for those providing care for
adults, who simply need a break.
The informal venues of respite care
that work for children, such as
sleepovers, are simply not practical
in most scenarios where the person
in need of care is an adult, because,
while most parents have peers
whose homes are set up to safely
watch children, most caregivers of
adults do not have peers whose
homes are set up to safely watch
adults. There are often highly spe-
cialized emotional and medical
needs involved in caring for adults
that even the most well-meaning
of friends and family are unable to
meet. That is where respite care
becomes an important component
of the caregiving scenario.
Respite care is the provision of
short-term care in a specialized
facility outside of the home,
which provides temporary relief
to caregivers.
Respite care is actually a powerful
tool to be used in helping seniors or
individuals with special needs stay
in their homes, because it gives
caregivers the option to get extra
help when needed. At Chelsea
Senior Living, all of our facilities
offer respite care. Caregivers can
use respite time for vacations or
other planned events, but also fre-
quently rely on it when a temporary
change in the caregiver’s situation
makes it impossible for him or her
to provide care to another, but
does not dictate a permanent
change. Respite care can also serve
as an introductory transition to an
assisted living environment, when a
potential resident and their care-
givers are uncertain about making
that type of change.
Typically, a respite stay at Chelsea
provides a furnished apartment, all
meals and the rest of the amenities
that our other assisted living resi-
dents receive. Minimum stay is usu-
ally a month. Chelsea would be
happy to accommodate you or
your caregiver. Call 1-877-CHELSEA
or visit chelseaseniorliving.com for
the Chelsea nearest you.
WHAT IS RESPITE CARE?
PAGE 102
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