Determining Your Needs and Wants in Senior Living
Are you familiar with the options that today’s senior living has to offer? You may be surprised to learn there is a community designed to closely match the needs and preferences for you or a loved one.
The first step is to understand the different types of senior living communities available.
The second step is to clarify those top senior living needs and wants of the individual – including lifestyle choices or services that would make a community the best fit.
Matching Your Senior Living Needs and Wants with the Community Types
1. Independent living: A great choice for older independent adults who are searching for a more accessible or age-friendly home while having access to activities, fitness opportunities and social events.
2. Assisted living: The perfect fit to fulfill the senior living needs and wants of those desiring to continue living independently but needing assistance with daily tasks, such as dressing, grooming, managing medications or preparing healthy food.
3. Memory care: If your loved one is living with dementia, the time may come when the level of care required can no longer be provided at home. Memory care offers safe and secure communities, activities and engaging care by a specially trained staff.
4. Skilled Nursing or Rehabilitation: For those who have a chronic condition or suffered an injury or illness that required hospitalization and are being discharged but are not yet ready to return home, communities that offer rehabilitation services can be an effective way to fill the gap.
<LP: https://info.milestoneretirement.com/family-decision-toolkit-guide >
9 Common Senior Living Needs and Wants
While each individual’s priorities can be unique, the following list of features can help you determine the standards to look for when choosing both a type and a specific community:
1. An active lifestyle
If you are searching for opportunities to become more active or to participate in fun social events, an independent living or assisted living community could be the right choice.
2. Assistance with daily tasks of living
If you or a loved one needs assistance daily with tasks such as dressing, grooming or bathing, an assisted living community provides a trained and compassionate staff to lend a helping hand.
3. An age-friendly and accessible home
If your current home would require extensive renovations to make it age-accessible, it might present a challenge to fulfill your senior living needs. All types of senior living communities are designed for safety and accessibility – and are move-in ready.
4. Opportunities to make friends
Loneliness can often occur as we grow older as we may begin losing friends or family members – or find it more difficult to meet new people. All senior living communities provide several opportunities to make new friends.
5. Support for fitness and healthy dining
If it has become more difficult to remain in shape or to shop and prepare healthy meals, this should be on your list of senior living needs and wants. Assisted living provides fitness classes and dining programs included in their monthly fees. Independent living communities will typically provide access to these amenities as well.
6. Avoiding isolation with transportation options
If you or a loved one is no longer driving, it can become easy to feel isolated and cut off from others, especially if there are few transportation alternatives. It’s important for optimum health to remain active and engaged. Independent and assisted living communities provide scheduled transportation.
7. A safe environment for those living with dementia
If living with dementia, your loved one may be at a higher risk, especially as wandering or becoming lost can become more frequent. Memory care communities are designed to provide safety and freedom of movement in secured environments, both indoors and out.
8. Remaining engaged and interactive while living with dementia
Those who are living with dementia can still greatly benefit from therapy programs, social outings and interacting with others even if they may struggle with verbal communications. Memory care communities tailor their programs to meet the individual’s preferences and abilities.
9. Rehabilitation recovery
If your current senior living needs and wants include extra care before returning home from the hospital as you or a loved one recovers from an injury or illness, you’ll find many assisted living or skilled nursing communities that offer rehabilitation residences and services.
Life at a Milestone Community
If you’re looking at options for retirement living, we invite your family to visit one of our Milestone communities – designed to support your loved ones to live their highest quality of life.
We offer studio and one-bedroom private apartments for our assisted living residents as well as private or shared memory care suites for those living with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Our memory care residents are cared for by our compassionate and specially trained team – who meet them wherever they are in their journey with patience and kindness. The residents also have access to customized activities, programs and an elevated secured courtyard.
Our amenities and services encourage our residents in assisted living to engage with others, remain as independent as possible and be reassured that help is available whenever needed.
In addition to our personalized services, we offer:
· Chef-prepared meals
· Full-service dining room and bistro/bar
· Clubroom with large screen and theater style seating
· Family gathering room
· Rooftop courtyard including outdoor kitchen and firepit
· Resident accessible chef’s kitchen garden
· Senior-inspired fitness center
· Hair and nail salon
· Resident-shared laundry rooms
· Elegantly designed common areas
· 24-hour on-duty care staff
· Scheduled transportation
· Secured community
· Direct access to adjoining walking paths and parks
If your family is considering retirement living, we hope you will visit one of our communities. We are a trusted resource and are here to answer any questions. Please contact us with any questions you may have or to arrange a personal tour.
We also invite you to download our complimentary Family Decision Toolkit.