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Senior Glossary
Bowel incontinence: Bowel incontinence, also called fecal incontinence, happens when you’re not able to control your bowel movements, leading you to leak solid or liquid stool. It’s more common in older people, but anyone can get bowel incontinence. Nearly 18 million adults in the U.S. have bowel incontinence. Care or Case Management: Case managers work with family members and older adults to assess, arrange, and evaluate supportive efforts of seniors and their families to remain independent. Caregiver: Can be either informal (unpaid) or formal (usually paid). An informal caregiver is a person who provides care and assistance with various activities to a family member, friend or neighbor. Formal caregivers are volunteers or paid providers who are usually associated with an agency or social service system. Roughly 75 percent of all caregiving for older persons is provided by informal caregivers, e.g., family, friends, and neighbors. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): A federal organization that oversees the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Its primary goal is to ensure effective, up-to-date health care coverage and to promote quality care, with little or no co-payment, for beneficiaries. It also provides information to help consumers in choosing a variety of service providers through its website. Chore Service: Chore services may be sought by persons who are physically unable to perform tasks such as heavy cleaning, minor repairs, or yard work. Community Based Services: Services designed to help older and disabled people remain independent and in their own homes. They include activities that may be provided by senior centers, transportation, home-delivered meals or congregate meals, visiting nurses and/or home health aides, adult day care, and homemaker services. Congregate Meals: These meal programs provide older individuals with free or low-cost, nutritionally sound meals served five days a week in easily accessible locations. Besides promoting better health through improved nutrition, meal programs provide daily activities and socialization for participants, which help reduce the isolation of old age. Continuum of Care: A term for the entire spectrum of specialized health, rehabilitative and residential services available to the frail and chronically ill, specifically, home services, independent living, assisted living, and nursing home care.
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Frequently Used Aging Terms
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