The Benefits of a Senior Living Community with Multiple Levels of Care
One of the biggest pitfalls we see Seniors and their Caregivers make, is choosing a Senior Living Community that ONLY serves their current needs. Making a transition into a community, whether it Independent Living, Assisted Living or Memory Care is a big change with a lot of ripple effects. The last thing you want to do is need to make the move again down the road…especially considering there is a high chance that at there will be more physical and/or cognitive decline at that point.
It’s always a good idea to highly consider communities that have that “next level” of care for your loved one. Now, that will be different for each person depending on their current situation and family history. For example, if your loved one is only looking for Independent Living now, but you know that because of a bad hip or current lower mobility, they will need hands on help with bathing or dressing in future – you would want Assisted Living easily accessible to them when the time comes. Or maybe your loved one is moving into Assisted Living, but is showing some signs of cognitive decline with confusion and forgetting daily tasks – you would want Memory Care on site so if there is a diagnosis of dementia in the future and more care needed, the move is an easy one.
When looking at levels of care to consider, the progression usually goes like this:
Independent Living: active resident base with lots of socialization; low maintenance living with easy access to meals, housekeeping, transportation and laundry services (many times included in cost), but NO care services provided by the community.
Assisted Living: focus on socialization; low maintenance living with easy access to meals, housekeeping, transportation and laundry services (many times included in cost); care with activities of daily life IS provided by the community on site to the residents (bathing, dressing, grooming, transferring, toileting, medication management, etc.)
Memory Care: same format as Assisted Living, plus a focus on programming and care for residents with dementia. Memory Care units are secured to avoid elopement/wandering and the Caregiver to resident ratio is usually lower.
Skilled Nursing Facility: this is a clinical setting providing 24/7 nursing care.
Part of the long term planning process is not just looking at the immediate needs and solutions, but forecasting ahead to make sure you and your loved one has the support you need so they can continue to age in place. That said, it can all be an overwhelming process. If you have questions about what care level may be needed now, or in the future and what communities are the best fit, call us! Sunways Senior Living Concierge is a free service to Seniors and their Caregivers. You can schedule a discovery call on our website at www.sunwaysseniorliving.com or call at (941)867-0809.
