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I think you might not be used to having everything done for you but I'm sure you could get used to it, especially if you were finding that you needed more and more help with things as you got older. I would think that not having to worry about home maintenance, cooking, cleaning and driving yourself around could be a big relief.
Mic111, glad that your mom is thriving. I don’t know that I ever could in a facility, but good that some people do. At 69, I hope I am a long way off from needing off. I can’t imagine what they will be like in twenty years, what with staffing shortages and not enough people to afford such places.
I am not surprised that A Place for Mom recommended horrible places. When I first heard about it, thought it sounded like a great service. Then I learned more. I would rather pay for a geriatric manager a fee for service for unbiased recommendations versus get free recommendations where their sole criteria is recommending facilities that gave them the highest commission while ignoring those that don’t pay a kickback.
I agree. After she moved we discovered the 1st place we chose had a poor reputation with her newly found geriatric Dr. The place she ended up doesn't have a slick sales staff. They were friendly but not sales oriented. I think I found them through USNews and World Report. We didn't discover them in our first round of looking. We had to expand our range away from a major city. There were several other facilities courting us much more as I called quite a few with my list of questions. But the more I learned about how this place operated the more I liked them. One key thing was that they had no problem with a camera in the room. Lots of places balked at that.
The assisted living places I've been to are like luxury hotels. I went to a senior expo once where they had all the chefs from the areas assisted living places giving samples of their food. Most have a choice of 3 or 4 entrees for each meal.
The people I know that live in assisted living love it!
I think the trick in these cases means not having already lost one's mind to Dementia. Then, even a luxury place can feel scary and strange.
There are some really well run, very nice assisted living places. The residents enjoy activities, social activities, outings, entertainment, having meals prepared for them and they have the ability to go to their own individual apartments when they need a little quiet time.
It's pricey but worth it to many people.
Mumsy was in one of those. The works including in-house parking. She managed to alienate everyone in no time.
^^Animals are humanely euthanized, but humans aren’t. Go figure.
The term “assisted-living” is fairly new. People used to be put in “nursing homes”, but I think that has such a negative connotation that they changed the term to “assisted-living” to make the situation easier to swallow. (The commercials show old people having all sorts of fun to entice them to accept that’s where they are going, and to make the children feel less guilty for putting someone there.)
Assisted living is not the same as nursing homes in any way. Nursing homes especially those with subacute therapy changed the name they use from nursing homes to Skilled Nursing Facilities because that better reflects the more complex medical care they now provide (while they used to be non-medical “Rest homes”.
Assisted living is very different. You have your own apartment where you can keep your door shut and locked (can’t do that in a nursing home and most rooms are 2 to a room). Assisted living requires higher functioning. The person can’t be a high fall risk or medically complex because they are behind closed doors and there is usually only 1 or 2 nurses in the facility vs 2 on every unit in a nursing home. Far fewer CNAs because most people can dress and toilet themselves (outside of a memory based ALF) Some people only need help with taking medicine and showers. My mother was independent with everything when she entered assisted living.
As people lose function over time, many times they become too much a safety risk (multiple falls, loss of vision, more complex medical needs than an ALF can provide.
Nursing homes are classified as medical facilities by states, and they have to meet state regulations regarding staffing and are judged in a very different skill set than assisted living. We have to weigh our patients weekly. During state inspections, they will go through patients charts for significant changes of weight, and what we did about it. It’s a big deal if patients lose weight and there has to be a correction plan.
Assisted living facilities are not considered medical facilities (again possible exception of those certified as Memory Care facilities) They are classified more akin to senior apartments. They don’t have the same kind I’m of inspections and much lesser staffing requirements if any. They don’t weigh people or keep track of people’s diets or give iv’s. Most residents see the same doctor later in the community they saw before they moved in, while nursing home residents are assigned one of our 3 primary care physicians.
They’re not licensed as rehab facilities. In our facility if a long term resident needs rehab after an illness, they just move them upstairs to the subacute unit till they’re better. In an assisted living if you needed subacute rehab they would have to send you to a skilled nursing facility (nursing home).
Mumsy was in one of those. The works including in-house parking. She managed to alienate everyone in no time.
My mom is a social butterfly. For her a situation like that is perfect. For me, I need more space. A fairly large over 55 active adult community would be fine but living in a unit with the same people day in, day out probably wouldn't be my cup of tea.
My mom is a social butterfly. For her a situation like that is perfect. For me, I need more space. A fairly large over 55 active adult community would be fine but living in a unit with the same people day in, day out probably wouldn't be my cup of tea.
Be happy to have a mother like yours!
55 communities will unfortunately not work at this point for us. What you seem to be looking for is what we have had in five homes. Downsizing was not a good idea and homes with large rooms instead of more are scarce. Oh well!
Be happy to have a mother like yours!
55 communities will unfortunately not work at this point for us. What you seem to be looking for is what we have had in five homes. Downsizing was not a good idea and homes with large rooms instead of more are scarce. Oh well!
My goal is to downsize into a smaller, low maintenance, senior friendly (one level, zero entry/grab bars in the shower, golf cart commutable) home that we will be able to maintain all by ourselves for a long, long time.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by springfieldva
My goal is to downsize into a smaller, low maintenance, senior friendly (one level, zero entry/grab bars in the shower, golf cart commutable) home that we will be able to maintain all by ourselves for a long, long time.
Friends from Colorado relocated to Oro Valley, AZ Del Webb. Felt very young when arriving (pre age 60) 26 yrs later... very much enjoying their spot. They have a superb lot on a peninsula where no other homes are visible. Looking over Mtn Range, and lots of wildlife. They don't golf, but we go out on the course after 5PM to enjoy a golf cart trek and view (Lots of wildlife). Big swimming pool, pickleball, putt-putt golf, very nice cafe, all kinds of hobby centers and groups. They just renovated the auditorium and stage. Great for dances, drama clubs, guest presenters... IIRC ~$750/ yr HOA fees (without golf).
Large medical center, shopping, plentiful food... 5 minutes away.
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