What does Long Term Care mean to me?

Even though I am only 20, Long Term Care has had a huge impact in my life. When I was in high school I decided to volunteer at a nursing home and was opened up to a world I was not familiar with. Although it is not a career I would want to pursue I was forever impacted by the elder men and women I met. A lot of them had family members visit every day, but some did not. I felt that it was the staffs duty to take them under their wing and be the family they did not have. Most of them would die in that nursing home because their illnesses were a part of their life.
My grandmother was recently in a long term care facility after being released from the ICU because she did not have the health to come home. I think Long Term Care is not a part of the health industry most people really recognize or want to recognize. I believe it is different from departments in the hospital because instead of curing they are just caring for them and making their lives as comfortable as possible.