What Options Are There for Senior Living?

Continue Care Retirement Communities CCRCs:
Many small communities provide continued housing while transitioning to an assisted living home from independent living. To the eventual transfer to nursing homes.

A Continuing Care Retirement Home:
These homes are designed to assist those with needs from rehabilitative to sub-medically acute. This type is normally considered a center for long-term care. Some residential care homes are on a monthly rental or a fee paid once upon entry. These charges are in addition to recurring monthly charges.

Assisted Living Facilities:
They are popular senior communities for those who want to live independently but require help with basic needs. These needs can be meals, medication, and personal care. These senior living options do not give the same skilled care as for nursing homes. They work with others outside of the home to give residents medical assistance. However, the resident’s family is responsible for ensuring the ongoing health care services.

Additionally, the Greenhouse models are another type of assisted living home. These unique living settings provide residents with a socialized community and level of care more similar to home.

Many factors go into determining whether your loved one will be comfortable long-term in a senior living facility. Factors, such as location, floor plan, apartment size, amenities, decor, and options for dining and dietary are all imperative. The average resident is 85 or over and most women (70 percent, according to national averages).

Therefore, what is good for an elderly woman might not be for a man or younger resident. Ensure to ask for a list of activities for seniors in assisted living to ensure the home offers appropriately stimulating activities and events. You want your elder person to feel they fit in and have an efficient amount of social support.

You want to make sure the community is one that has sufficient transportation and allows for adequate social connectivity. Other indications a community fulfills one’s needs are their programs for physical fitness. In addition, if your loved one has a pet you need to make sure the facility is pet-friendly. It is required by law that all healthcare and nursing homes allow blind residents their special needs dogs.

You must budget for the costs of an assisted living home. Planning for your elder parent to live in a nursing home because living alone is no longer an option. Healthcare costs can be expensive, but the cost of a nursing home is well worth the cost. Knowing your elder parent is in skilled nursing care gives you peace of mind.

Search for more than one option for senior’s assisted living homes. This way you will have a number of candidates to pick from. You can do your own research or use friend’s referrals to do this search.

You should probably visit one or two facilities each day–during the night and day so you can observe both settings. Ensure to meet with the highest level staff personnel available. Perhaps taking a tour that also has one or two meals included.

Take pictures and ask as many questions as you can think of, jotting the answers for reference later. If at all possible, visit the facility at night to watch how the night shift treats residents.

In addition, during your visit or tour enlist each of your five sensations. Smelling, touching, and seeing everything. Verify that the physical conditions and maintenance of resident apartments are taken care of.

Smell for any offsetting odors which might indicate poor housekeeping. Also, touch the surfaces, which also verifies the cleanliness of the facility. Using your sense of intuition, how well kept are the outdoor areas. If it has snowed recently, are the driveways and walkways salted and cleared? You should also use the bathroom the residents use to verify how clean it is.

On a final note, to get a real feel for the place, just talk to the residents. Ask them how they think the staff treats and cares for them. How they feel about scheduled activities and events and if there have been any cases of theft onsite.

Study and compare the details of each senior living option agreement. Ask what the resident to ratio staff is and what steps are taken as residents age or get sicker.

Are there any penalties or additional fees should a resident exit prematurely?
If so, then ask about the time frames, and conditions involved for any refunds.

When are rates increased?
Normally, rate increases take place in January or July. Residential housing is a competitive business; therefore, it should be fairly easy to negotiate these increases. Particularly, if your elderly adult is living on an income that is fixed.

Sometimes there may be an exclusionary clause within the contract of a senior community. These clauses state that financial instability or behavior are reasons a resident can not stay in the community.

If your elderly adult is on Medicaid, ensure the facility accepts it. Not all senior communities do. Be wary of this before signing any contracts. Or prior to placing your loved one on a holding list for a room.

Senior housing is covered under the Federal Fair Housing Act. Therefore, a couple of costs must be addressed–the cost of renting and residential care. What fees are included in the total package? Does it include medication management? Are there any fees that are “hidden” such as for laundry and housekeeping? Make sure the package you sign up for corresponds to the health conditions of your senior.

Is this senior living option of assisted community proactive regarding care providers, emergency personal alerts, and wellness tracking? Is there a supervised connection of telemedicine to the doctors? This tracking should enable the subtle detection of healthcare conditions, allowing for speedy diagnosis of probable illnesses.

The credentials of a senior housing facility are important. Because any bankruptcies or pending sales might affect the pre-payments and agreements of future residents. Consult with resident AAA and other nonprofit organizations.

If the facility has pending ownerships, it could affect the average stay of a resident. Verify what licenses are held by each senior community you check out. As well as the levels of care they cover if there are any violations, fines, or citations.

Legally, adult children may enter into an agreement with their elderly parents. In order to do this, it is recommended the adult child is given legal grounds to do this.

When you get a complete medical assessment you confirm the correct care levels needed for your loved one. Avoiding any revisions needed after moving in. The senior housing option you decide upon advises its experts to provide any cognitive personal care treatments needed.

You will also need to provide assessments and medical records of your elder loved one. In addition to any hospitals, they might have been admitted to.

Things are not forgotten and set in stone just because your elderly person has been settled into their new home. Make sure relatives and friends visit frequently to give your family members the sense of not being alone. Senior-level staff members should be consulted on a regular basis in order to verify the quality of living standards.

Ensure to study the bills and finances of the elder persons often to assure they are not being overcharged. If you notice a spike in care charges, question this with the doctor. In addition, check pharmaceuticals and other medical records. Talk to caregivers and nurses aides, best of all–continue to use your best judgment. Best of all, don’t forget about the sixth sense–common sense!