Assisted Living

Over the last 40 years assisted living has become one of the most common forms of senior housing. Despite this, many people do not know what it is or the type of care that is offered in assisted living communities. Elder Places provides insight into communities across the country so that our users can make educated decisions about the options available to them.

Assisted living has been around for many years and was often referred to as “rest homes for the aged.” These homes were funded privately through donations or by the individuals living in them. The industry changed in the mid
1960s with the adoption of medicare and medicaid. Many of these homes began to accept funds from the
government and became what we now know as nursing homes. Still many others did not want to accept these funds and became what we now know as assisted living communities.

Assisted living communities provide their residents with the help that they need to function throughout the day.  The majority of these tasks are considered to be “activities of daily living” or ADLs.  These activities include eating, bathing, grooming, toileting, and dressing.  There are usually caregivers on staff at the communities to help residents with these tasks.

Assisted living is regulated on a state level and has slight variation from state to state and the type of care it can offer. In assisted living there are three main care environments:  communities, homes or group homes, and memory care.

 Communities

This assisted living env
ironment varies greatly in size from place to place. Communities often cater to a retirement lifestyle. They will have a dedicated activities person, transportation, chef, concierge services, and more all while providing care for their residents. In this setting a resident may share a room with another resident or have their own private quarters. It may be a studio, one-bedroom, or two-bedroom apartment. Communities look more like a fancy hotel and have may have as many amenities. They are great options for senior looking and their loved ones looking for some additional help.

 Residential Homes

Most people do not realize the number of assisted living homes. They are located in neighbor hoods throughout
your city. Sometimes they are a family home that has been converted into a senior living home and other times they are built specifically for the purpose of housing senior in need of assistance. They are care centered options. Many times because of their size they are not able to have some of the amenities of their larger counterpart. They make up for this by using the direct care staff and ownership to provide as many of those services as they can. In homes

residents may share a bedroom and a bathroom or have their own private one. Homes are a great option for senior and their loved ones looking for some additional help.

 Memory Care

This type of care can be done in the community setting or the home setting. In both settings modifications need to

be done in order to make it a good fit for residents with dementia. These changes range from staff training, building layout, building security features, to size. Residents of memory care assisted living often times share a studio, have a wall to divide or will have their own room. The extra staff training allows the staff to understand how to redirect and work with the residents in a positive constructive way. memory care is a great option for seniors and their loved ones looking for some additional help with memory loss.

Today there are more than 40,000 licensed assisted living communities in the US and the industry is growing at a rapid rate.