Senior Resource Directory Senior Resource Directory

THE FRAIL ELDERLY & BRAIN-IMPAIRED ADULT
In-Home Care
Many community services exist to
provide support to a frail person
who wants to live at home. These
services range from intermittent
kinds of services like spe cial ized
trans por ta tion or house maintenance
programs to more regular
and routine services like a weekly
homemaker or daily home delivered
meal to the most intense
kinds of support such as home
nursing or live-in attendant care.
The following is a list of services
which may be useful in helping
you identify what kinds of in-home
assistance exists:
• Money management/bill paying
• Emergency response systems
• Friendly visitors
• home delivered meals
• housing repair, maintenance,
mod i fi ca tion
• personal-care service/
attendants
• adaptive aids and medical
equip ment, loans or assisting
devices
• home and nursing care
• telephone reassurance
• transportation services
Out-of-Home Care
If a person is not able to be maintained
safely and comfortably at
home, out-of-home care may be
the only alternative. Long Term
Care Ombudsman Services maintain
a current list of in-county
facilities and assist families in
selecting the most important level
of care for a loved one. CA Advocates
for Nursing Home Reform
will also provide in for ma tion and
referral for in and out of county
place ments.
The Long Term Care Ombudsman
program also makes referrals outof-county
when a particular service
is not available within Santa Barbara
County .
Respite Care
Respite is time away from care
giving duties and responsibilities.
Respite care is provided to a frail
elderly person or brain-impaired
adult by someone other than the
primary caregiver. A caregiver may
want or need to fi nd someone with
expertise in physical care or behavior
man age ment, or may want to
arrange for a substitute caregiver
to come in while the primary caregiver
spends time with family or
friends. Time for respite is necessary
for all caregivers.
40 2005-2007 SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SENIOR RESOURCE DIRECTORY
Support Groups
Support groups are an extremely
im por tant part of the continuum
of services that exist to maintain
a frail or brain-impaired adult at
home. Some support groups are
designed to assist the families,
friends, and/or caregivers of the
person who is ill. Groups vary in
the type of support offered. Some
may provide ed u ca tion about a
particular illness while others
provide emotional support and
sharing among group mem bers.
Diagnosing/Treating
the Problem
Not all physicians have experience
treating the frail elderly or brainimpaired.
These individuals have
very special needs and it is worth
taking the time to fi nd the best
expertise available. If a diagnosis
has been made, you may wish to
contact the ap pli ca ble disease specifi
c or ga ni za tion for information
and as sis tance.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Di ag nos tic and Treatment Centers
of California
If you or your loved ones are di ag -
nosed with Alzheimer’s Dis ease,
these centers are dedicated to
improving the quality of life for all
persons and their families affected
by the disease.
The Centers in Central and Southern
California are presented below.
Please call for more information.
Fresno
University of California, San Francisco
Fres no Alzheimer’s Disease
Research Center
559-227-4810
www.fresno.ucsf.edu/alz
Irvine
University of California, Irvine
949-824-2382
www.alz.uci.edu