There could be any number of reasons why you may be considering having the conversation with your older or elderly loved one about possibly relocating to a thriving community in your local area and encouraging them to remove many of the pressures associated with running a home. Regardless of your own individual reasons and whether or not, indeed, it is your loved one who has asked you to conduct research into the different available options on their behalf, you have most definitely clicked on the right article. Here is a detailed guide to the different types of senior living facilities.
Independent Living Facilities
The first main type of senior living community, and one which is perhaps one of the most widely recognized across the country and beyond, are independent living facilities. Essentially, independent living facilities are the closest living situation akin to living in your own home and are a popular choice for physically fit and emotionally healthy older adults coming from all backgrounds and situations.
Independent living facilities are a fantastic choice for those older adults who are entirely able-bodied and able-minded and who are quite capable of running their own home, but simply have become underwhelmed with the monotony and instead want a more exciting and stimulating daily life.
Should this be something you want to look into further, contact prestigious and renowned communities like Sunnyvale CA senior living facilities and find out more about the fabulous benefits each and every resident is afforded.
Assisted Living Facilities
Assisted living facilities if you were to imagine the hierarchy of senior living communities in terms of how much care and medical assistance is available to any residents that either need or want it, then they fit squarely between independent living facilities and nursing or care homes. Assisted living facilities provide a self-contained and entirely private apartment for their residents. They offer a team of people to assist with anything from washing and dressing, to grocery shopping and companionship.
There are numerous benefits to considering the move to a reputable assisted living facility, including the following to name just a few:
- Tailormade & Personalized Care
- Social engagement and activities
- The opportunity to learn new skills and hobbies
- Security and safety
- Fun times and independence
- Access to medical and healthcare facilities 24/7
There are so many reasons why assisted living facilities are fast becoming the most popular and celebrated option for older adults living alone who feel as if they need a fresh start. It may well be the case that you are, on paper, entirely physically able to complete any and all daily household chores and maintenance tasks yourself. Still, I would much rather live in a place shared with other people of the same age and interests.
Other reasons why an older adult may choose, or else a family member or close friend suggests, making the move to a prominent assisted living community, such as the simple fact that they will never feel lonely and isolated again and changes in either physical or emotional health.
People also choose to move to assisted living facilities due to the simple fact they are now unable to drive and now feel as if they are becoming a prisoner in their own homes, a desire for a quieter, serene, and more peaceful life and the previously mentioned benefit of wanting to prevent isolation and loneliness.
Memory Care Facilities
For those individuals who have either been diagnosed with a memory-based illness, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, it may well come to the point whereby they need more specialized care and support than they receive at home. It is important to note that not everyone who is diagnosed with dementia is automatically thought to eventually need to move to such a community. Still, it is absolutely accurate to state that, especially in the advanced stages of dementia, memory care facilities can often be the best option.
Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia can be incredibly frustrating and stressful, and in the United States alone, over six million American citizens have been reported to be living with Alzheimer’s. Even more alarmingly, this number is set to rise exponentially, with projected figures for 2050 set to rise to just under thirteen million. As memory care facilities are, as the name would suggest, specifically tailored to looking after residents with dementia, the vast majority of residents in such communities are living with one form of dementia or another.
Nursing & Care Homes
As of a recent study in 2021, just over half of the people who reside in nursing or care homes in this country are either aged eighty-five or younger, with only a handful of residents in each state being under the age of sixty-five. There are many reasons why a person may either themselves feel more comfortable, safe, and secure moving to a nursing home or else are encouraged to by loving family members, which range from a physical disability or a condition relating to their mental health.
As with each of the other types of senior living communities, there is no hard and fast, conclusive type of person who resides in each, and with the possible exception of independent living communities, medical care and treatment are usually provided to residents on-site.
Palliative Care
Finally, even though this is entirely irrelevant to your current situation, in the interests of providing a detailed account of each of the different types of senior living communities, no such list would be complete without mentioning palliative care. As you will probably already know, facilities taking care of people, regardless of their age, who require round-the-clock palliative care are usually suffering from a debilitating illness from which they are unlikely to recover from.
Palliative care doctors and nurses are specially trained to make each resident as comfortable as possible, both in the context of physical comfort and in terms of emotional support too, and also usually provide bereavement services for their residents’’ close friends and family members.