The types of care and services you require depend upon how much assistance you need with your Activities of Daily Living.  These are the activities that are essential to day-to-day functioning and include, but are not limited to:

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Toileting (assistance going to the bathroom)
• Incontinence (lack of bladder or bowel control)
• Eating, and
• Transferring (getting in and out of bed or chair).

The types of care and services you require can also depend upon how much assistance you need with activities related to an illness or disability.  These activities may include but are not limited to:

• Taking medications
• Changing surgical wound dressings, and
• Using assistive devices or equipment.

If you are unable to perform one or more of the activities of daily living without assistance, it usually means you need some type of long-term services and supports.  Figuring out what services and supports you may need can be a complicated process.  But you don’t have to do it alone. There are many resources and agencies that can help; visit the “Assessment Process” and “Assessment Agencies” sections of this website.

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Degree of Need

 

Evaluating how well you take care of yourself is another way to decide what care and services you might need.  The following are some general categories of help you may obtain.  Click on the one you feel captures your level of need, you will then be presented with some questions to help you determine if this category is right for you:  

• Occasional Assistance
• Minimal Assistance
• Partial Day Assistance
• 24-hour Assistance

• Are you able to care for yourself in an emergency and can you negotiate stairs without assistance in an emergency?
• Are you able to bathe, dress and groom yourself?
• Can you eat and take medication without assistance?
• Can you prepare meals and do your housekeeping without assistance?

If you answer yes to most of these questions, the care and services you need can generally be provided in your home.  For more information on finding care in your home, please visit the Finding Care and Supports section of this website.

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• Are you able to respond to and exit in an emergency?
• Do you have frequent falls?
• Do you require occasional verbal reminders about bathing, dressing, grooming, taking medications or keeping doctor's appointments?
• Do you need assistance with meal preparation and housekeeping?
• Do you have trouble remembering things?

If you answer yes to most of these questions, the care and services you need can generally be provided in your home.   Homemaker services, personal care or home-delivered meals may be all you need to remain at home. For more information on care and supports available in your community, please visit the Finding Care and Supports section of this website.

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• Do you need assistance responding to and exiting in an emergency?
• Do you need verbal reminders and cues to remember to dress, groom, eat, take medications, etc.?
• Do you occasionally experience incontinence?
• Do you need assistance setting up your bath?
• Do you find assistance with meal preparation and housekeeping helpful?
• Do you need reminders to participate in social activities?
• Do you have mild problems remembering things and are you sometimes disoriented?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, you need the type of standby assistance that is available in your community.  These services can also be provided in your home by family, friends or personal assistants.  There are also adult day care centers where these types of services are generally available. For more information on finding care and supports, please visit the Finding Care and Supports section of this website.

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• Do you need supervision in an emergency?
• Are you bedridden and do you need two people or a mechanical lift to move you from your bed to a wheelchair or from place to place?
• Do you need assistance to bathe, dress, groom or take medications?
• Do you need verbal cues and hands-on assistance to eat?
• Do you need encouragement and an escort to participate in social activities or in a one-on-one visit?
• Do you require incontinence supplies and management?
• Do you require 24-hour nursing supervision or skilled services, physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech therapy?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, you need round the clock care.  Care can be provided in the home or in a nursing home.  However, costs associated with providing this type of care at home are high and the situation can be difficult to manage. For more information on finding care and supports in your home or community, please visit the Finding Care and Supports sectionof this website. To find information on nursing home care, please visit the Places to Live section of this website.

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