How to Make the Best Choice for Your Parents
By Marsha Southern, The Forum at Park Lane in Dallas, North Dallas LIVING WELL Magazine
As the number of retirement and senior care communities continues to increase, most people have a difficult time differentiating between the levels of care available.
Today’s senior care communities are adding services so residents may not need to move as their needs change. However, there are significant differences among senior living options when it comes to atmosphere, levels of care, and cost. Naturally, the health and happiness of our parents is our top priority.
Let’s say mom lives alone and needs a gentle helping hand to take care of herself. This help probably consists of assistance with bathing, getting dressed, or meals. Some families choose to have a home health aide visit mom, while others start to look at senior care communities.
While a home health aide can take care of what mom needs physically, she may still find herself bored or lonely, unable to get out and socialize.
A senior care community, in addition to providing for personal care, offers dining, activities, trips, transportation, and a community of friends to share your day. On the other hand, seniors who need ongoing medical care may benefit from living at a skilled nursing facility.
In simple terms, a skilled nursing facility, or nursing home, serves the long term, chronically ill or severely debilitated patient. Skilled nursing facilities provide similar services to a hospital and have a more clinical setting. Residents enjoy entertainment, but aren’t able to be as active as residents at a senior care community due to their health conditions.
In contrast, senior care communities serve those who want assistance with daily activities and a lifestyle that offers as much independence as possible. These residents are able to move about the community, perhaps with a walker or wheelchair, and those who need assistance with transfer can also be accommodated.
The choice of which setting is best is up to seniors and their families, but an assessment can help point you in the right direction. Assessments are done by physicians, social workers, and the professional staff at each community. While the medical care offered in skilled facilities is greater, many senior care communities offer 24-hour nursing assistance, preventative and chronic care, rehabilitation therapies, and daily wellness programs.
Finally, cost is a concern to nearly everyone. A typical senior care residence costs about $3,000 less per month than skilled nursing care. Finances aside, this decision can be confusing. Reach our for support, as most senior living communities offer several financial options for senior living as well as other helpful solutions.
Take this quick quiz to find out if senior living may benefit you
- Do you feel insecure in your home? Is your neighborhood changing and not as nice or friendly as it used to be?
- Does it bother you to be away from home, even for a few hours at a time? Do you feel uncomfortable if you have to alter a routine or go someplace new?
- Do you have good, reliable help to take care of the maintenance on your home or apartment you can’t manage yourself any longer?
- Do you worry about the expense of having to replace appliances or the air-conditioning system—or pay special assessments to a condo or HOA?
- Do you think you’ll never be able to afford home improvements, even though doing so may make it safer to live in, or sell faster in the future?
- Do you feel incapable of doing everything that needs to be done to keep your home clean and uncluttered?
- Does it feel like everyone you know is in poor health, has moved away or died?
- Do you worry about falling and no one being there to help you? Do you worry about even dying because you may need medical help and you may not be able to call 911?
- Do you eat fresh, nutritious food? Or, is it too hard for you to shop for groceries and prepare your meals alone?
- Do you feel lonely and wish you had someone to talk to regularly or a friendly face to stop by to ask if you need anything?
- Are you isolated from activities and opportunities to do something stimulating or challenging with people your own age?
- Would you like to be able to have a variety of activities under one roof and people to do them with—so you never have to be alone?
If any of these questions have occurred to you, you would love living independently in a retirement community.
Author Marsha Southern is the director of sales and marketing at The Forum at Park Lane in Dallas, TX. For further information concerning senior living options, please call 214-369-9902.
