Senior care options in South Jersey: where families start

By Carter Hockinson, editor

This guide is general educational information, not medical, legal, or financial advice. Talk with your own attorney, financial advisor, or care professional about your situation. Elder Living Guide provides education and referrals; we are not a care provider, facility, agency, or medical practice.

If you are sorting out care for a parent or spouse in South Jersey, this page lays out the usual options, the official New Jersey offices and lookups you can use yourself, and the questions worth asking in any county before you sign anything.

Short answer: Families in South Jersey usually compare help at home, assisted living, memory care, and short-term respite. Start with your county’s Office on Aging, which also serves as the county’s Aging & Disability Resource Connection, and look up any facility in the New Jersey Department of Health’s long-term care facility search before you tour. On that first call, ask about state programs such as JACC for in-home help, the NJSave application, and free Medicare counseling through SHIP. Availability, pricing, and waitlists change from town to town, so get every number in writing.

What this page means by South Jersey

For this guide, South Jersey means Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, and Salem counties. The state programs below are statewide, so most of this page applies anywhere in New Jersey. The kinds of care are the same across these counties; what changes from town to town is availability, pricing, and waitlists, so treat every number you hear as something to confirm in writing. For every stage of planning, not just the local steps, see our senior care planning guide for families.

Jump to: your county Office on Aging, what to ask on the first call, New Jersey programs that help pay, if your parent is in a hospital or nursing home, if you are worried about abuse or neglect.

The main kinds of care

• Help at home. Aides come to the house for a set number of hours. Read signs a parent may need help at home and questions to ask before hiring in-home care.
• Assisted living. A residence with meals, activities, and help with daily tasks. See the assisted living tour checklist and what care levels mean.
• Memory care. A secured setting for people living with dementia. Start with memory care tour questions.
• Short-term respite. A break for the family caregiver. See respite vs ongoing care.

Start with your county Office on Aging

According to the New Jersey Division of Aging Services, an Area Agency on Aging is designated in each of the state’s 21 counties, and each one also serves as the lead Aging & Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) agency for its county, so older adults, adults with disabilities, and their caregivers have a central source for information and referral for services and programs. The Division’s County Offices on Aging page lists the office for each county, including all eight counties above.

What to ask on the first call

The county office can only point you to the right programs if it knows the situation. Before you call, write down your family member’s age, where they live now, what daily tasks they need help with (bathing, dressing, toileting, getting in and out of bed or a chair, walking), whether they have Medicare, Medicaid (called NJ FamilyCare in New Jersey), or long-term care insurance, and roughly what they can pay each month. Then ask:

• Which programs might fit, and what does each one need from us to apply?
• Can you screen us for JACC, the Statewide Respite Care Program, and NJSave, or tell us who does?
• How do we reach a SHIP counselor for Medicare questions?
• Is there a PACE organization that covers this ZIP code?
• Is there a waitlist, and how will we hear back?
• What should we do next if needs change quickly?

Our suggestion: keep the answers in one place. We made a blank first-call worksheet (CSV) with these questions and columns for the answer, who you spoke with, the date, and the follow-up. It opens in any spreadsheet app and asks for no personal details until you fill it in yourself.

Look up a facility before you tour

The New Jersey Department of Health’s Long Term Care Facilities Search lets you look up long-term care facilities in New Jersey by county, city, or name. The Department’s Health Facilities pages cover how the state licenses facilities such as assisted living residences and nursing homes. On the tour, ask to see the license for the level of care your family member needs.

If you have concerns about care or residents’ rights in a nursing home or assisted living residence, the New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman advocates for residents of long-term care facilities and investigates complaints. Its site includes the Assisted Living Bill of Rights.

PACE programs the state lists for South Jersey

PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) provides comprehensive medical and social services coordinated by an interdisciplinary team. It is for people age 55 or older who need a nursing home level of care but can live safely in the community with PACE services at the time of enrollment, and who live in the service area of a PACE organization. As of September 27, 2026, the Division of Aging Services’ PACE page lists these organizations for South Jersey counties:

• Atlantic and Cape May counties: AtlantiCare LIFE Connection, located in Atlantic City.
• Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties: Inspira LIFE, located in Vineland and Williamstown.
• Camden County: Trinity Health LIFE New Jersey, located in Pennsauken, serves most Camden County communities.
• Ocean County: BoldAge PACE, located in Lakehurst, serves all ZIP codes in Ocean County.
• Burlington County: coverage depends on ZIP code. The state lists specific Burlington County ZIP codes for Capital Health LIFE (Bordentown), Trinity Health LIFE New Jersey, and BoldAge PACE (Lakehurst), so check your ZIP code on the state’s page.

In January 2026, the Department of Human Services announced funding for PACE organizations to serve residents in every county, so coverage may change. Confirm on the state’s page before you call. This list comes from the state and is not a recommendation.

A break for family caregivers

New Jersey’s Statewide Respite Care Program gives family or other caregivers a short-term or periodic break from the demands of daily care for functionally impaired persons, including older adults, with a sliding-scale cost based on the care recipient’s (and spouse’s) income. The Division of Aging Services says to reach the program in your county through the ADRC. Our guide to respite care for family caregivers covers how to plan the handoff.

New Jersey programs that help pay

These are state programs, described here from the Division of Aging Services pages we checked on October 9, 2026, and re-checked on October 11 and October 15, 2026. Income limits, asset limits, and caps change, so check the current figures on each linked page or ask the county office. Mentioning a program here is not a promise that your family qualifies.

JACC: help at home for people who would otherwise need a nursing home

The Division describes Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving (JACC) as a State-funded program for people age 60 and older who meet clinical eligibility for nursing home level of care and desire to remain in their homes within the community. It defines that level of care as needing help with a minimum of three activities of daily living, such as bathing, toileting, dressing, transfers, and locomotion.

• Every participant gets care management and a plan of care built with a care manager. Depending on the plan, services can include homecare, adult day health services, social adult day care, chore services, home-delivered meals, respite care, environmental accessibility adaptations (home modifications), a personal emergency response system (PERS), specialized medical equipment and supplies, and transportation.
• There is a monthly cost cap per participant, and participants may owe a co-pay on a sliding scale based on income.
• The Division says JACC gives participants the opportunity to direct their own care, including hiring their own providers if they want.
• JACC is not a Medicaid program. It serves people who are not enrolled in NJ FamilyCare or Medicaid Managed Long Term Services and Supports (MLTSS), and it has income and asset limits listed on its page.
• To apply, the Division says to contact the Area Agency on Aging / ADRC in your county.

NJSave: one application for several savings programs

NJSave is the state’s online application to help low-income older adults and people with disabilities save on Medicare premiums, prescriptions, and other living expenses. According to the Division, NJSave enrolls eligible applicants into PAAD (Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled), the Senior Gold Prescription Discount Program, Lifeline Utility Assistance, the Medicare Savings Programs (QMB, SLMB & QI), Medicare Part D’s Low Income Subsidy (also known as Extra Help), and Hearing Aid Assistance to the Aged and Disabled (HAAAD). The same application is also used to screen people for other savings programs, including SNAP. The county Office on Aging or a SHIP counselor can help you fill it out.

SHIP: free Medicare counseling

New Jersey’s State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) provides free help to New Jersey Medicare beneficiaries who have questions about benefits, claims, and supplement policies (known as Medigaps). The Division says its volunteer counselors do not provide legal advice, sell, recommend, or endorse any specific insurance product, agent, insurance company, or plan. You can reach a counselor through your County Office on Aging. If you are weighing private long-term care coverage too, bring our long-term care insurance questions.

If your parent is in a hospital or nursing home now

A hospital discharge often forces a decision in days. The Division’s Community Choice program assigns counselors, who are registered nurses and social workers, to meet with hospital patients, nursing home residents, and their families. They assess care needs, provide information about in-home services, housing alternatives, and community programs, and explain any financial and medical eligibility requirements. The Division’s advice is to ask to speak with the Community Choice counselor assigned to that facility. Its page lists a Southern Regional Office that serves the South Jersey counties on this page, along with Mercer and Monmouth.

The same office administers Pre-Admission Screening, a care needs assessment process for people applying for Medicaid-reimbursed long-term care in a nursing facility or through home and community-based alternatives. For the moving logistics once a decision is made, see our timeline for moving a parent, and for the family conversation, our family meeting checklist for changing care needs.

If you are worried about abuse, neglect, or exploitation

If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. For an adult 18 or older living in the community who may be facing abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation, the Division says to contact your county Adult Protective Services office. It explains that within 72 business hours of receipt of a report, a face-to-face meeting with the adult by a trained APS social worker is required, that the adult is interviewed in private, and that information gathered by the investigation is confidential. For concerns inside a nursing home or assisted living residence, contact the Long-Term Care Ombudsman listed above.

Official resources to check

• New Jersey Division of Aging Services explains state programs for older adults and caregivers.
• County Offices on Aging lists each county’s Area Agency on Aging and ADRC.
• NJ Department of Health Long Term Care Facilities Search looks up long-term care facilities by county, city, or name.
• New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman advocates for residents of long-term care facilities.
• JACC explains in-home services for people 60 and older who meet nursing home level of care.
• NJSave is the state’s single application for prescription, Medicare cost, and utility savings programs.
• SHIP offers free, unbiased Medicare counseling.
• Community Choice counsels hospital patients and nursing home residents about options outside a nursing home.
• Adult Protective Services lists the county offices that take reports about adults in the community.
• Eldercare Locator is a public service of the federal Administration for Community Living that connects families with services for older adults.

Questions to ask in any county

• Is the provider licensed for the level of care your family member needs, and can you see that in writing?
• What is included in the monthly price, and what costs extra? Our guide to comparing assisted living fees walks through it.
• How and when can prices change? Read the contract before move-in. See reading assisted living contracts.
• Who covers shifts when a regular aide is out?

Planning the budget

Our private-pay care budget guide helps you lay income and costs side by side. If a long-term care insurance policy exists, bring our long-term care insurance questions to the insurer before counting on it.

How this page is made

Carter Hockinson, our editor, wrote this from the New Jersey Division of Aging Services, Department of Health, and Long-Term Care Ombudsman pages linked above. We checked the PACE organization names and the program descriptions against those pages on October 9, 2026, and re-checked them on October 11, October 15, and October 17, 2026. We left out phone numbers and dollar limits on purpose because they change; use the linked state pages for current figures. Elder Living Guide is not affiliated with these programs, and listing one is not a recommendation.

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Elder Living Guide provides education and referrals. We are not a care provider, facility, agency, or medical practice. Questions: snlepore@gmail.com. Read how our guides and contact requests work.