When you hear the phrase assisted living you probably think of a facility that offers older people with the help that they have to live safely, comfortably and for the most part independently. This sounds like an inexpensive perception to the average individual. You are likely to expect it to cost somewhat more than apartment living.
One single person living in a two bedroom, one bath apartment in the Midwest can more likely than not expect to pay say a 1000 dollars per month (or less) for rent, utilities and groceries. These are the same basic things included in most assisted living communities. The essential monthly charges for the privilege of living in an environment such as this are at least double-for a studio unit. So far, I have not seen anything that justifies the cost. There just isn’t a 1000 dollars (or more) assistance being given! Remember that there are various assistance offered in those communities which are available to residents for additional expenses. If you are a resident who isn’t paying for the additional providers, you’re definitely just paying out more to live in a retirement community.
There are many appealing aspects of living in a community of this kind. The maintenance free living and being surrounded by individuals of your own generation might look appealing but condominiums and apartment complexes offer the very same. The most important perk of assisted living is the safety and safety aspect for not just the resident but also their family. Knowing that there are skillful specialists watching over our loved ones, when we simply cannot, ought to ease our worries as well as our aged family members’. If this were only how it works at all facilities!
My family’s experience has had it is ups and downs. We continue to learn more about how things work. Like most things in life, you can’t take anything for granted and you cannot depend upon anyone’s word. We’ve been exposed to three different facilities and 3 decidedly different cost levels. You do have to pay more for what most would consider basic care in a facility that promotes itself just like an assisted living community. It is a business and there must be profit to keep it going. It actually appears that several such businesses are just draining their resident’s bank accounts. People who worked and saved for decades have no choice yet to hand over their retirement savings just to have a room and meals. It appears like that there ought to be more to look forward to in our twilight yrs!
Doing research and visiting facilities isn’t enough to make an educated choice when the time comes to move your family member into an assisted living facility. It does not really matter how much you think you know and how nice a facility appears when you visit, you really have to live there to know how it’s on a daily basis. You could have to try a couple of different ones before you find one that you are comfy with. It’s not fun to uproot an aged individual and plant them in an unfamiliar spot yet it could become necessary.
Beware of drugs mix up! You may be capable to overlook some things not being up to par yet pay attention to who gives medication and how it is documented. We’ve had prescriptions disappear, other resident’s prescriptions being given, prescriptions being mixed with other residents’, medications of different kinds stored in very much the same bottle, to name a few. In fact, the last move to a whole new facility was actually eye opening and maddening at very much the same time. The completely new facility went via the medications that the old one had sent and found not only the wrong medicines mixed in bottles but also someone else’s prescription bottle! This was a service that was paid for so that our family member got the right drugs at the suitable time, it is a wonder that assistance didn’t have terrible results. The upside of this last straw scenario that we knowledgeable is ,that since moving, our eighty-seven yr old feels far better!
Georgette Adanas has been writing articles on www.gericarefinder.com since 2011.