Maybe you have recently come to the decision that you no longer feel comfortable, safe, and competent living in and running your own home. Or, moreover, perhaps you have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia and you are beginning to research your plans for the future.
Whatever your reason for clicking on this article, always remember that, even if you have started to feel pressured and crowded by friends and family members who are endeavoring to encourage you to relocate sooner rather than later, ultimately the decision lies solely and squarely with you.
With that being said, continue reading for advice, help, and suggestions if you are someone who is considering relocating to assisted living community or a memory care facility.
How Do You Feel?
Whether you live alone, with a partner, friend, or another family member, you will know if you have recently started to feel like you are beginning to struggle to manage.
Think of an average day, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. Throughout the morning, for example, have you at any point felt as if such simple things as brushing your teeth or getting dressed have started to feel more complicated and are being completed slower than before?
Have you started to feel more unsteady on your feet – and perhaps you have more bruises on your legs due to trips and falls around your home? If the answer is yes, you should monitor if any of these situations worsen, as these would be indicators that it may be time to look for help, be that home care services or assisted living facilities. Assisted living communities are a popular senior housing option for individuals who need assistance with daily activities, such as bathing, dressing, medication management, and meal preparation. There are online directories of senior housing options including a wide range of assisted living communities across the United States.
At-Home Care Services
There are a wide plethora of available services to assist you in your home should you feel as if you may need them.
Home care services can be anything, from a social companion to accompanied grocery shopping and other activities, to help you so you do not succumb to feelings of isolation, loneliness, and a subsequent decline in your mood. Other services provide assistance with cleaning and other general household chores and, if you feel as if you may need it, nurses can be arranged to come visit you at home and do your medical check-ups and treatments there instead of at the surgery.
It is also worth noting, as a general point, that home care service can also provide someone who will join you at the beginning and end of every day to help you with dressing, cleaning, and bathing if that is more of what you feel you may need.
Assisted Living Communities
Assisted living communities, otherwise known as facilities, are essentially residential areas of housing, be those apartments or first-floor housing, that enable their inhabitants to live as independently or aided as they want and need.
Within assisted living communities, there is a wide plethora of internal services and provisions made for different types of people and their differing needs. For example, many assisted living communities have memory care buildings to aid those residents who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of memory-based illnesses.
Established and experienced assisted living facilities, such as Calabasas Nursing Home, have professional medically trained staff onsite and encourage social participation and activities, all geared towards a full, enjoyable, and high quality of life.
Potential Questions To Ask Staff At Assisted Living Communities
If and when you decide that you would like to start seriously looking for assisted living communities, obviously it is important to engage in as much research as humanly possible.
Crucially, when you find a particular community that you potentially enjoy living in, take a trusted friend or family member with you and ask to tour the facility thoroughly. During this time, it would be exceedingly pertinent to prepare some questions to ask the staff and, where possible, residents of the community.
Obviously, everyone is an individual and therefore you should consider what you are looking for personally, taking on the advice of loved ones as well. However, there are some more standard questions to ask that will identify if the assisted living community you are interested in is at the top of its proverbial game.
- Does every resident have their own tailored-made service plan and are you fully involved in devising the schedule?
- Is the food nutritiously planned and suitably varied? If you have any dietary requirements, will they always cater for them so you don’t have to worry?
- What is the average staff-to-resident ratio on a normal day?
- How will you receive medications and repeat prescriptions?
- Is transport provided and included in the monthly, or annual, fee?
- Is there a trained physiotherapist on site 24/7?
- Are medical professionals available should they be needed?
- What activities are provided and does the activity program regularly change?
- Is there optimum privacy in the apartments?
- Are you free to decorate and design your apartment as you see fit?
Managing Your Emotions
Having taken the decision to move to assisted living, it is essential to not only physically prepare for the move but, more importantly, mentally prepare yourself for the changes you are going to experience.
As with any other move, relocating to assisted living facilities is one that will certainly take some time to fully adjust to and to wholly accept. Once you have made the decision, it is crucial to focus on the positives and logically explain away the negatives, of the move. Realistically, by the end of month one, you will know whether this is the best place for you.
Although naturally you will be required to downsize, be sure not to compromise on the sentimental elements that you would never want to leave behind and personalize your apartment as much as possible.