Assisted Living for Seniors – Making the Choice
Assisted living for Seniors: Will you or your loved one be happy in assisted living? Will you get your money’s worth?
A primer by Joan Van De Moortel, Executive Director of Care for You.
Care for You Companions meet the needs of residents in assisted living facilities as well as in clients’ homes.
Most people want to remain in their homes. It terrifies and depresses them to leave. They end up taking more medications, which can lead to more side effects and accelerate mental and physical decline.
At Care for You, therefore, we believe it is usually best for people to remain in their homes as long as possible. Yet the time may come to search for an assisted living facility for a loved one. If so, here are questions you should consider—they most likely will not be considered by others.
- Does my loved one want to go into this facility?
- What will be the total cost? Compute the basic rate plus each additional service, such as extra meals, help with medications, assistance with bathing and dressing, personal laundry, transportation, etc.
- What services EXACTLY does the facility offer? Commonly, assistance consists only of three meals a day and laundering of bed linens (for which you pay).
- What is the resident-to-staff ratio? A ratio of 6 to 1 is considered outstanding, but very few facilities have this ratio. Twelve to 1 is more common. For a person with dementia or Alzheimer’s, even a 6 to 1 ratio does not provide enough care. That resident really should receive one-on-one attention.
- What is the schedule for providing services? In most facilities care is provided by CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants), who operate on a medical model and address physical needs on a time clock: get up at this time, bathe at this time, eat at this time, etc. Mental and emotional needs aren’t addressed. This usually doesn’t work with dementia, as time and space are very relative. The fact that it’s time for a certain activity not only doesn’t register for a person with dementia, it can cause anxiety, resistance, acting out. This often leads to increased medication to control the acting out. It doesn’t matter when a person with dementia bathes—7:00, 8:00, 9:00, or 10:00 a.m.—nor does it matter on which days he or she bathes. What’s important is that the person bathes two to three times per week, without being traumatized.
Make visits to any facility you consider, both announced and—even better—unannounced, and scrutinize the following:
- How many workers there are.
- What the residents are doing. Are they in activities? Sitting in front of a TV in a day room? Sitting alone in their rooms? If they have hearing, vision, or stability issues, is someone helping them?
- The physical condition of the residents. Is there any bruising, particularly on the left hand or arm? This is often a result of being pulled up too quickly and too hard.
- The food served. Is it nutritious? Tasty? Attractive? Often, two things happen: First, on the day you’re invited to the facility, the food is great. On other days, not so swell. Second, nutrition can be seriously lacking. Breakfasts of doughnuts and sweet rolls are common. Lunches and dinners can be tasteless and unappealing, with little nutrition.
- The building itself. Is it clean? Well-lit? How does it smell? What do you hear?
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Nice to meet you and thanks for visiting. This is an important decision and not one to take lightly…All the best to you.
We’re simply providing a check list. We work we do complements the care that’s already being given in these facilities and communities. One on one is not always possible and that’s what we are hired to do.
Best of luck to you.
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