When your aging loved, one is struggling to live independently in their own home and beginning to neglect daily chores, or become unable to take care of themselves properly, it may well be time to consider moving to an assisted living community.
Here are the six main advantages of choosing senior living communities for your loved one and the support and medical expertise they provide.
1. 24/7 Support and Availability of Medical Care
Assisted living communities to provide onsite care and support throughout the day and night, and your loved one will be assisted as much or as little with their daily chores and activities as they desire and need. Staff members will always be on hand to assist with everything from bathing, dressing, grooming to meal preparation and home maintenance and will always strive to provide the best quality of life for your loved one that is possible.
Assisted living is by no means a strictly medical model of senior living care, but they do provide a wide range of health care services, which are all individually customized to residents’ specific needs. For example, emergency first aid, medication management, pharmacy services, medical records, and treatment maintenance services are usually offered to residents in assisted living facilities. Most facilities also have a staff physician or nurse who visits residents regularly to provide medical checkups and a physiotherapist on hand to assist residents with areas of physical weakness.
There is no exact design and specification layout for all assisted living facilities in the country, obviously because each resident’s needs and preferences naturally vary quite considerably. However, all professional, established, and experienced assisted living communities’ top priority is to help senior residents enjoy their independence as well as a good and consistent quality of life by providing basic health care assistance, personal care, housekeeping, transportation, and a variety of social and recreational opportunities and activities.
2. You Can Extensively Tour the Facility Yourself
While you are there, it would also be pertinent to check for yourself the availability of social excursions and activities that that particular assisted living facility provides and the frequency and range of said activities. In communal areas, there is certain to be activity calendars clearly displayed, and it might be worth even taking a photo of such calendars to show your loved one upon your return home. Social calendars are a significant part of making your loved one’s transition from their own home to the facility as smooth as possible.
The tour of a prospective assisted living facility is the chance to meet the staff and managers and assess for yourself the happiness and comfortability of the residents. Obviously, keep an eye out for cleanliness and examine the level and quality of any technological equipment. Ensure your visit is a sensory experience and take note of everything you see, hear and smell as you walk around the property.
Ensure to ask to see the outdoor parts of the facility and pay specific attention to the bathrooms and what facilities are in place. If possible, attempt to sit down with at least one of the current residents within the community and hear firsthand what it is like for the residents who live there.
3. You Can Ask as Many Questions as You Want
Naturally, throughout this whole process, you will have a growing number of questions, and assisted living facilities are always ready, open, willing, and expecting a barrage of potential inquiries regarding their staff, their site, and what their new residents can expect.
One of the most crucial questions to ask centers around the quality, quantity, and specific types of medical services each facility offers and how appropriate these medical services will be in the treatment and general care of your loved one. Many assisted living communities have podiatrists, physiotherapists, massage therapists, and fully qualified medical professionals who are either onsite throughout the day and night or at least on call and local enough to be there quickly if needed.
4. Activities and Social Excursions
Assisted living facilities for seniors, such as Belmont Village Senior Living, offer an array of different social activities and excursions, all overseen by a trained professional member of staff. Multiple events are scheduled throughout the day and in communal areas, which encourage social interaction and the forming of connections between residents.
Such activities include book clubs and reading groups, board game nights, jigsaw puzzle parties, exercise classes, movie nights, and a host of other fun and relaxation activities. Often, therapy animals are brought in for an afternoon, and the residents get time with loving dogs and cats from local animal rescue centers.
5. Safety and Security
You will get the peace of mind from knowing your loved one is safe and secure in an assisted living community is unrivaled compared to other outside living options. Such facilities are surrounded by a secure perimeter that is by no means overbearing and often entirely hidden by ornate gardens and trees. They use the latest monitoring and alarm detection technology, and the properties are completely covered by close circuit camera technology. In addition, most assisted living communities to operate a secure key system, use electronic locks, and credential readers, all for the safety and security of the residents themselves.
6. Visit Whenever You Want and As Long as You Want
Naturally, in the first few weeks of your loved one moving to an assisted living facility, you will be anxious to know how they are getting on and if they are settling in. One of the significant major advantages of moving your loved one into an assisted living facility is you can spend as much time as you can with your loved one in and around the community. Visiting hours naturally vary, but generally, visitors must enter through the main entrance and check-in at reception and are then free to visit between nine and five on a weekday and between ten and four on the weekend.
