Multi-Level Care Facilities for the Elderly in Denmark and Holland

Abstract

Multi-level care facilities provide many levels of care. They have the advantages of more services available for apartment residents, less duplication of facilities and services, easier movement from one care level to another as nursing needs increase, and a way to accommodate both spouses when one needs a nursing facility. They can include independent apartments, congregate housing providing meals and personal care, and a nursing home wing.

This report is on such developments in Denmark and Holland; it is based on numerous interviews done under a World Health Organization fellowship in 1977. In Denmark, nursing homes have been a major facility for the elderly but now a wing of service flats (congregate housing) and a day care center are usually included. In Holland, residential homes (congregate) are prevalent but a number of complexes include a nursing home wing and possibly independent units, although this was not government policy of 1977.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Huttman

Elizabeth Huttman is a professor in the Department of Sociology, California State University, Hayward, Hayward, California, 94542.