Protecting an Elderly Loved One

What Factors Determine Level Of Care At Assisted Living Communities?

by Margie Adams

If you think that your senior parent needs more support, then you should consider assisted living communities. These communities offer seniors a place to live outside of their home. Residents receive basic assistance in the following areas, such as socialization, dressing, eating, transportation, housekeeping, and toileting. However, these facilities offer different levels of care. Read on to find out what factors determine the level of care in assisted living communities.   

Help With Bathing

Assisted living facilities consider two factors when it comes to residents bathing needs. The first is whether you need help with bathing and how often you need this help. For example, a person who needs help with washing his or her hair requires a lower level of care than someone who needs help with all parts of bathing.

Help With Dressing

The ability to get dressed without assistance is something else to factor into the level of care. Dressing yourself requires a certain amount of skills. You have to move your body, zip up clothing and button-up shirts. It also takes making good choices in picking the right clothes for the occasion and season.

Help With Grooming

Grooming involves a variety of activities, such as shaving, styling hair and brushing teeth. Some seniors are not physically able to groom their body. The ones who are physically able to groom may have problems remembering to do it on a daily basis.

Help With Mobility

Mobility is another issue for seniors. Assisted living facilities have to determine how much help you need getting around. They have to consider how well you can walk and get from a seated to standing position. The highest level of care is when a resident needs a lift to be transferred to another location. A lower level of care is when you need minimum assistance with walking or help with moving to a wheelchair.

However, most facilities require that you walk in without help from another person during move-in day. Other factors that affect care includes management of incontinence, the need for caregivers, assistance with eating, help with medication, laundry and whether the resident needs memory care for dementia.

It is important to keep your parent active. Seniors usually thrive off of a productive lifestyle. However, the quality of life tends to go down when the person has health problems. An assisted living facility can help seniors as they transition to different stages of life.

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