There comes a time in everybody’s life when a decision must be made. The choice to live on our own during our retirement, in an assisted living community or a nursing home. If you have a few minutes, I’d like to share a few tips to help you select the right assisted living facility for your loved one.
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1. Finding The Right Facility
Knowing which assisted living facilities are available can seem like a daunting task. It honestly isn’t. There are just a few questions you need to ask yourself and your loved one. Here are two questions:
What Is Important To You?
If they prefer the comforts of being near doctors and hospitals, look for facilities closest. If they enjoy going out to the movies or restaurants, look for facilities near entertainment areas such as shopping malls, Cineplex’s and restaurants.
What Are You Looking For?
If they want a kitchenette of their own to maintain their love of cooking or need an art studio to indulge their artistic spirit, discussing their main interests will help you find features that fit their exact needs. Certain assisted living facilities have swimming pools, putting greens or salons and bars. Each state has different features for their facilities.
2. Budget
A recent study of the cost of assisted living facilities was conducted in the United States, according to which assisted living in San Diego, California reportedly costs $132 a day (which adds up to $48,000 annually). Here are four other daily and annual costs for assisted living.
- District of Columbia – $220 daily ($80,400 annually)
- Massachusetts – $180 daily ($65,550 annually)
- Indiana – $116 daily ($42,330 annually)
- Alabama – $95 daily ($34,800 annually)
3. Get The Inside Scoop
While a facility, apartment or building complex may appear beautiful and provide a nice, refreshing location to live in… Seniors will be interacting with staff day in and day out. Getting to know each and every staff ahead of time—and building a rapport with them—will make the transition easier.
Ensuring your loved one is continually happy is an extremely high priority. This is a good time for you to do some “undercover detective” work and observe how other residents interact with staff. Do other residents seem happy in this facility? Are relationships positive? Do residents seem to trust the staff? At the end of the day, staff members are paid to paint the community in a good light; more residents mean a higher paycheque. In short, you will never know how other residents of any facility feel unless you talk to them directly.
Also, keep note of residents who frequently engage with their family. Transitioning to another life completely takes some adjustment. Yes, there have been studies documenting many seniors who are depressed and sad. The main reason for their unhappiness, a lot of residents said, was the fact their families didn’t come to visit more often.
Assisted Living Community – Conclusion
Without a doubt, boredom grabs hold of us all. Particularly seniors who lead more active lifestyles and don’t prefer watching TV all day. Finding out what daily activities assisted living offer is a great way to ensure your loved one will never be bored – particularly activities that encourage seniors to talk and bond with each other. Day programs that inspire communication and social engagement prevents boredom, sadness and even helps seniors fall asleep easier at the end of the day.
If you are interested in even more lifestyle-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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