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Respite care can provide relief from your caregiving. Respite services can take many forms, including periodic in-home care or care away from home through short-term stays in long-term care facilities. It can vary in time from part of a day to several weeks.

Informal and volunteer respite care is accepting help from other family members, friends, neighbors, or church volunteers who offer to stay with the individual while you go to the store or run errands, etc.

In-home respite care may include companion services; homemaker services to assist with housekeeping chores; personal care services to help the individual bathe, get dressed, exercise, etc.; or skilled care services to tend to the person's medical needs such as administering medications.

Adult day care is another important means by which caregivers can get time off during all or part of the day with the security of knowing that the person is receiving care from a dependable, trained source. The program offers relief to family members or caregivers and allows them the freedom to go to work, handle personal business or just relax. Erie County Senior Services maintains lists of various day care programs - 

  • Health Programs offer outpatient health and rehabilitative services such as nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapies.
  • Mental Health Programs might include services such as psychotherapy, daily living skills training to maintain social contacts, employment, and monitoring of psychotropic medication.
  • Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Programs offer habilitative training, structural recreation, medical monitoring, and occupational, physical or speech therapies.
  • Social Programs are probably best known. They offer supervision, socialization, group and individual activities and some assistance with personal care. It is appropriate for individuals who are socially isolated, confused, physically challenged, or unable to attend traditional adult programs.

Costs vary with type of agency and type of service needed, and some long-term care policies may cover some of the cost. Erie County has many participating agencies that offer a daily program of rehabilitation and socialization for impaired elderly. Call us at (716) 858-8526 to discuss what might work best in your situation.

Click for PDF version of Free Respite Program for Memory Impaired In Erie County

In addition to these options, make sure your loved one is safe in their home by viewing the falls prevention booklet

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