Interesting Information In The Annals Of Long Term CareThe annals of long term care are filled not just with the number of history's old and infirm but more significantly, reflects as well, a history of long term care as enduring as the history of man and his compassion for family as well as the sick and elderly. The earliest long term care facilities on record were shelters for old people which were prevalent in England starting in the 12th century. The annals of long term care began with facilities or shelters administered and watched over by the Church or the monasteries, owing probably of course to the assumption that such services were humanitarian and thus fell to the domain of the religious groups. But along with the rise of the Church of England and the separation of powers between church and the state, such long term care facilities fell to the administration of the state. In the 1600s, the state (or monarchy) required local community's to take care of their aging residents as long as they are able and to turn them over to a facility if they could no longer do so. By the 1700s, a law passed in England formalized the social requirement that the care for the elderly was more appropriately done in an institution. The annals of long term care in America began with the early colonies following those in England. The first of such facilities were established in Philadelphia, New York and South Carolina. The annals of long term care in America saw a boom in such facilities as they flourished and grew in almost every county and city by the time of the 18th and 19 centuries. In the modern era, the annals of long term care in America made the mark that such facilities were necessary if not essential in a highly industrialized society where the family structure made it next to impossible to adequately take care of the needs of the elderly. The annals of long term care in America as well as in other highly industrialized nations were also marked with an ever increasing large percentage of elderly people with no immediate family member to assist them. Other factors and social forces that shaped the necessity for long term health care among developed nations included longer life expectancies for people as well as the financial capacity to fulfill the requirements of a longer life span. The generally positive economy made it easier for people to save substantially large amounts for their retirement as well as for the inevitable onset of aging related diseases and its medical costs. Coupled with low birth rates usually typical for such societies, it became necessary for the retired and the elderly to have some means of ensuring that they would be taken cared of when they become unable to do so, thus long term health care facilities became necessary. The state affirmed this. The annals of long term care in America may also be said to be marked with the recognition of the law that health care for its elderly is of paramount importance. Even those with inadequate financial resources are given the protection and care they deserve through such important and landmark legislation as Social Security Act of 1935 and the Old Age Survivors Disability Health Insurance (OASDHI). |