Getting older is a normal part of life. With advanced age comes the need for more assistance when performing everyday activities like cooking, cleaning, and caring for yourself. This need can also be felt by people living with disabilities. In that case, assisted living can help improve the quality of life, and it offers many additional benefits. Read on to find more need-to-know details about assisted living.
What Is Assisted Living?
Assisted living care is help that’s provided to individuals who need assistance with the daily tasks of their lives. For instance, older people need care when they can no longer manage to make their own meals, draw a bath, or use the restroom alone. This drastically lowers the quality of life and can even put their lives in danger, such as when personal hygiene starts deteriorating or when an older person continues to forget taking their medicine.
Assisted living offers personalized care not only for older adults but those who are developmentally challenged or have some kind of disability. However, most of the people who rely on assisted living care are senior citizens. Assisted living care can be a long-term arrangement that helps with all activities of daily living requirements.
What Happens At An Assisted Living Facility or Community?
An assisted living facility is a place where people who need assisted living care can reside. It’s a type of long-term senior care facility that should not be confused with nursing homes, which offer a higher level of care for people who have lost a greater degree of their independence. There are different types of assisted living communities, such as specialized, comprehensive, and continued care retirement communities.
Facilities that offer comprehensive care are suitable for people with all types of medical conditions, although those with dementia may be kept separate from the rest of the residents. Specialized communities provide services to people dealing with a specific type of medical condition, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. Continued care retirement communities also provide independent living options with the option to receive home care where needed. Overall, assisted living facilities are safe and provide the support needed. Keep in mind that assisted living care is not coved by Medicare.
Assisted Living Services
Assisted living facilities offer a wide range of services designed to make the lives of residents as comfortable as possible. These services are provided by trained and qualified staff, based on the unique needs of each resident. Usually, most residents will receive basic services while others pay more for extra services, such as having a registered nurse on-call. Since there are different levels of care offered at an assisted living facility, each resident will have an individual service plan tailored to their personal preferences and health history.
Assisted living staff will use information in this plan to determine the activities of daily living that a resident requires, whether that’s bathing, dressing, or helping with moving about. For the most part, you can expect an assisted living facility to provide a comprehensive list of services, such as meals, laundry, housekeeping, ADL assistance, and recreational activities.
How to Find The Best Assisted Living Facility
With so many options to choose from, you may not know where to start when choosing an assisted living facility. The decision is more difficult than you might expect because of the emotional component involved. To make the decision easier, there are crucial factors that you need to look at, such as the facility design or layout and the way the individual units are structured. Ideally, you want an environment that’s safe, well-maintained, attractive, comfortable, and clean.
In addition, you want a facility that offers all the right services you need, whether that’s meals, laundry, transportation, or ADL assistance. The facility should also be adequately staffed, and the staff must have enough experience and training. It’s a good idea to check online reviews and visit the facility to see what the service is like. That way, you have accurate information before making a final decision.
Hopefully, these details will help you understand assisted living better, which will help you make an informed decision when choosing the best facility for you or your loved one. The key takeaways you need to keep in mind are that assisted living involves getting assistance from skilled professionals in a residential community. You can stay in these communities for as long as you like while getting the help you need and without losing all of your independence.
