While there is no exact formula for choosing a senior living community for your loved one, there are some key factors that can help decide which is the best. One of the most important of these factors is thinking about what they need in order to thrive in this new setting. Think about not only their medical needs, but also their social, mental, and spiritual needs. The goal is to cause only the slightest disruption to their current life as you provide them with a new living situation.
How to Choose Between Independent Living or Assisted Living
One of the first things to decide when choosing a senior living community is the amount and type of care needed. Ensuring that your loved one is in the right environment and receiving the best care needed is crucial.
There are 4 main types of senior living:
- Independent living:
- Independent Living is crafted for seniors who seek a blend of autonomy and community. It’s ideal for those who can manage daily tasks independently but appreciate the convenience of having no home maintenance responsibilities. The service offers a range of amenities such as full-service dining, various activities, and social opportunities, enhancing the overall quality of life. While residents maintain their independence, they also have access to personal care professionals and transportation services, ensuring a supportive and secure environment. This living option strikes a perfect balance, allowing seniors to enjoy their freedom while benefiting from a community-oriented lifestyle.
- Assisted Living:
- These communities are designed for seniors who need some assistance with daily tasks but who still want to maintain their independence. These communities’ available services typically include help with personal care (bathing, dressing, etc.), medication management, meals, and laundry. Assisted living communities often also offer social activities, transportation services, and wellness programs.
- Memory care:
- This specialized type of senior care is designed for individuals living with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other memory-loss-related conditions. Memory care communities typically offer 24-hour supervised care in a secure environment, along with activities designed for individuals living with dementia-related illnesses or conditions to encourage their engagement and to help maintain memory and cognitive function. Memory care services often include assistance with daily tasks, medication management, and personalized therapy programs.
- Skilled nursing:
- A skilled nursing facility, sometimes referred to as a SNF (pronounced “sniff”) or a long-term care facility, is a specialized center that offers inpatient rehabilitation and medical treatment. The inpatient rehabilitation service, sometimes referred to as transitional care, commonly provides care and support to individuals after a hospital stay, especially following accidents, serious illnesses, or surgeries. The primary goal of inpatient rehabilitation is to help patients regain their independence in performing essential activities of daily living, including bathing, dressing, cooking, personal hygiene, walking, and transitioning in and out of bed or chairs. To serve the long-term care needs of residents, SNFs also provide around-the-clock care to ensure the well-being and safety of their residents. Skilled nursing involves rehabilitation, wound care, IV therapy—speech, physical, and occupational therapy—and more, from trained healthcare professionals such as registered nurses and physical and occupational therapists.
They all have different levels of care and services, so deciding which will fit the needs of your loved one is crucial. Once you can ensure that all the medical needs of your loved one have been met and you have chosen the proper community based on those needs, consider some of the tasks that they will need assistance with such as medication management, bath/dressing, laundry, and meal services. It is then a good idea to take note of which of these are non-negotiable and which you may be more flexible on. This will help you narrow down your search and prevent you from wasting time investigating options that don’t fit your needs.
Research
Research will be an important first step in determining potential living arrangements for your loved one. While on-line reviews can be helpful, it should be noted these can be subjective. If you are considering skilled or skilled nursing placement, you can research the community’s survey history by going to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services site. Then, choose “Nursing homes including rehab services near me.” There you can enter the name of the community, city, and state, and review up to the last three years of survey history, as well as quality measures and staffing information.
Because assisted living and memory care communities are regulated at the state level, not at the federal level like SNFs, survey history can be a little hard to find. One recommendation is to simply do an online search of “Assisted Living Survey Results” along with the name of your state (even if you are looking at a memory care community); another way is to ask the community when you are touring where they post their survey results. These results should be in an easily accessible location to residents, families, and visitors. If they are hesitant to share the results or do not have them easily accessible, that may be a red flag.
Independent living communities are not under any state, local, or federal regulations and therefore will have no survey results. In this instance, it may be helpful to inquire if they have any community events taking place and attend one (or several!) and talk to other residents living there.
Reach Out to Others
Like reviews, getting advice from people you know is equally important. Reach out to friends and family to see if they have any input. If they’ve already been through this process, there is a good chance that they know a thing or two. When getting advice from them, it is important to acknowledge that there is not one community that will fit all seniors. What works for one might not work for the other; however, this is a great place to start and get valuable insight regarding their experience.
Tour Your Top Choices
Make sure to evaluate other aspects of the community. When touring, it is important to ask about their level of care criteria, and under what circumstances a resident may be discharged from the community. For example, some assisted living and memory care communities do not allow the use of mechanical lifts to help transfer residents, whether by community choice or due to state regulations.
Also, keep in mind some of the non-medical aspects that senior living communities have to offer. It is important to ensure that your loved one’s social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, and developmental needs are all being met. Although sometimes overlooked, these can be deciding factors in choosing the right place. During the tour, also ask how the community integrates these wellness elements into their residents’ lives. One way to do this is by looking into the community’s amenities. If meeting emotional needs ranked high on the list, when touring, ask what programs and measures they take to ensure those are being met. Likewise, looking into what chapels/spiritual centers they have or activities they put on can determine if it is a good fit.
Make the Decision
There are so many options for senior living that it can be hard to choose! Make sure when doing your research, you take note of your needs and wants regarding senior living. This will help narrow down your choices and ensure that priorities are being met. Whether it’s assisted living or independent living, the goal is to make life easier for the residents and ensure that they are provided with care above and beyond.
Wherever you are in your senior living journey, Terra Bluffs is happy to assist. Click here to get more information and schedule a tour today!1