​There are other reasons for families and those requiring living assistance to seek out short stays at SNFs or to sign up for related programs offered by care communities, providers, or the government. One is to get a respite, either to give a family member or caregiver a break from providing care or for the patient to have a break themselves or to experience a planned “vacation” of sorts from their normal routine. 

Kathleen Kelly, executive director of the San Francisco-based Family Caregiver Alliance, sees an increasing number of facilities in the Bay Area offering short-term stays but for somewhat novel reasons. “Most are doing short-term stays because of the higher Medicare reimbursement and offering short-term stays as respite options for families,” she says.

This idea of giving families a vacation of sorts from caring for an elderly family member has manifested itself in sensible ways, Kelly notes.

It really is an interesting thing to do for families that need a break,” she says. The one or two weeks away from the caregiver role is a chance for families to recharge, a time for residents to experience what one hopes is a comfortable and new care setting, and a chance for SNFs to market themselves to potential customers by doing well at the short-stay end of the market.

Some of these programs take the form of camps for the elderly, where campers are placed in what are normally retreat venues. “These can be staffed by nurses, home health aides,” Kelly says. “In the end, the experience in the camps is so families can become freer of guilt for a short break.”

The Veterans Affairs (VA) administration offers short-term stays that are very popular with families who travel to the sites where VA holds the rooms. “People will travel if they perceive the program as a quality program and fun environment for their family member to be,” Kelly says.

The Family Caregiver Alliance has offered weekend-long residential camps for adults with cognitive impairments, which offer fun activities for campers, with the regular caregiver not present.

“We have waiting lists to get into them. There are rarely problems, and only occasionally do people get sick and we have to call the family,” Kelly says.

From Friday afternoon, when campers are brought to a Bay Area retreat center, until Sunday afternoon, when their caregivers pick up them up, campers participate in arts and crafts, tossing balls at the celebrated “mini-Olympics,” dancing the hula, or enjoying music.