What is Assisted Living Care?
Assisted Living — the largest growing segment of all senior housing options — offers a "just right" combination of senior living and care. It’s a senior lifestyle that incorporates senior residential housing, personalized support services, and healthcare designed for the individual needs of seniors who would like help with daily activities, such as dressing, bathing, and grooming but do not require the level of skilled medical care provided in a nursing home setting. There are a variety of names for assisted living facilities, such as senior board and care, senior residential care, community-based retirement facilities, personal care, adult living, and adult foster care, however, the growing generic term is "senior assisted living".
There are license assisted living senior housing designations throughout the United States and the number of services and level of care they provide will vary depending on the individual community, however, most provide assistance with daily activities, meals, laundry, and housekeeping.
Assisted living communities offer a wide range of lifestyle choices, from the cozy familiarity of a single-family residential home to an extensive apartment-style environment. Additionally, these senior communities can be free standing or they may be part of a continuing-care community that provides independent, assisted, and nursing care. Often specialized services are brought into senior independent retirement communities as requested or required by its residents.
Features of Assisted Living
Assisted living offers senior citizens independent living with the daily assistance and medical care they may need. While every senior assisted-living community differs, most provide the following, either all-inclusively or provided as an additional fee:
- Personal services, such as help dressing
- General healthcare services
- Housekeeping services
- On-site meal program, offering 1 to 3 prepared meals a day
- Laundry services or laundry facilities
- Club house / meeting rooms for socializing
- Library
- Chapel
- Game room
- Fitness center
- Swimming pool / spa
- Beauty salon / barber shop
- Transportation services
- A service coordinator to help acquire additional services
Our Assisted Living Checklist can help you with your senior living decision by providing guidance through a series of easy-to-answer questions about interests and lifestyle and health considerations.
Financial Matters
Like any housing situation, the cost for assisted living varies by community, type, location, amenities offered, and so on, but the following guidelines are generally true for all senior independent living facilities:
- Only private pay is accepted for senior rental communities. Although there are a few state programs that exist to help cover associated costs, they are few and far between.
- Personal circumstances, likes and dislikes, desires and needs, differ for each individual seeking senior housing, so the rent cost will vary depending on the person and their interests and needs.
- To get a true estimate of the cost of senior independent living, contact the communities listed on AlternativesforSeniors.com and inquire. A friendly associate will gladly assist you.
Other types of active senior communities exist in addition to assisted living. For those who may need extra care, options include in-home residential care, continuing care communities, nursing and rehab centers, and care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. For those who are seeking independent living options, single-family homes, condominiums, and mobile home living are solid options.