When To Consider Assisted Living Facilities

By Author: Chelsea Andrews
Total Articles: 25
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Senior individuals who are living with their families can perhaps delay the need for assisted living facilities especially if they have someone to cook their meals and take them to the clinic or hospital for their doctor appointments.

Once they start to require more than what family members are capable of providing, there is no doubt that they have to elevate to the next level of care after in-home care, which is assisted living.

Assisted living is one type of retirement home where senior people can get help with their activities of daily living (ADL) like eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, cooking and meal preparation, housecleaning, and laundering among others.

It basically offers what home health care agencies offer except that its residents can ask for help or assistance even in the wee hours of the morning. Home care agencies usually provide caregivers or home health aides that work for a maximum of 12 hours a day.

Living in an assisted living apartment, duplex, or another type of retirement home is synonymous with residing in a nursing home except that you are not ...
... monitored 24 hours daily. You still have your own space since this type of long term care (LTC) facility promotes independence after all.

Most assisted living centers offer three meals a day, assistance with ADLs, housekeeping, 24-hour security, fitness programs, recreational activities, and a staff that works round the clock.

Residents of an assisted living home are also provided transportation to and from the doctor so an elderly person does not always have to worry who can accompany him or her.

Assisted Living Facilities or In-Home Care?

Assisted living is technically a combination of two kinds of homecare services. You can access one of these through a home health aide while the other one which is known as homemaker service and it can be obtained from another staff from a home health care agency.

In an assisted living center you don’t have to pay someone to provide you assistance when you need to go to the bathroom neither do you have to pay anybody separately for cooking your meals. All these services come in one package and your stay is not limited for as long as you don’t acquire a serious health condition.

Although assisted living homes also help administer medications, they do not handle medically necessary care because they do not house licensed nurses and they don’t have the equipment for it.

When choosing an assisted living for yourself or a loved one be sure that you base it on his requirements. Since it is going to serve as his second home he has to like it, be comfortable and like the people living here. If possible, try to live in the facility even just for a day or two so that you’ll be able to experience how its residents are being treated.

At present, one-bedroom assisted living facilities range from $3,200 to $4,500 on average. However living in New England or anywhere in the north will require you fork out more money for this type of LTC facility.