What Are Some Features and Benefits of an Assisted Living Facility?
In basic terms, an assisted living facility is a center that provides its residents with assistance in regard to certain activities of daily living. The assistance provided by an assisted living facility is tailored specifically to the needs of each individual resident. There is not a one size fits all template for all residents of an assisted living community.
If you are consider the possibility of moving to an assisted living facility, or if you are the adult child with a parent considering such a transition, you need to familiarize yourself with the features and benefits of an assisted living facility. We provide you a discussion of both some of the more important features and key benefits of an assisted living facility.
Common Features of an Assisted Living Facility
We begin by discussing some of the more commonplace features found at a typical assisted living facility in California and elsewhere in the United States.
Designated living areas: A primary feature of an assisted living facility are designated living areas. Depending on the layout of a specific assisted living facility, living areas come in one of three (or all three) forms:
- Single resident apartments
- Single resident rooms
- Semi-private resident rooms
Common areas: Another primary feature of an assisted living facility are common areas. Indeed, common areas are a crucial part of this type of community.
Common areas are an integral part of an assisted living community because they allow for a wide range of different types of activities that include:
- Dining and meals
- Fitness classes
- Educational, informational, and enrichment programs
- Social gatherings
- Entertainment and other events
- Informal socializing between residents
Secured facility: Another key feature of an assisted living community is that it is a secured facility. This includes the fact that staff is at the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Older-person friendly design: Another hallmark of the features of an assisted living center is that it has what fairly can be called an older-person friendly design. This includes accoutrements that are designed to enhance the overall safety of a facility for the benefit of older residents.
Key Benefits of an Assisted Living Facility
Beyond some of the more common features of an assisted living facility, we take a moment to consider some of the key benefits of residing in this type of community.
Assistance with tasks of daily living: The key benefit of an assisted living community is that residents are able to obtain specifically needed assistance with various aspects of daily living. This includes assistance with everything from meal preparation to bathing and dressing to transportation as well as a whole host of other types of assistance as needed.
Healthy meals: Meals and dining represent a major element and benefit of life in an assisted living community. Close attention is paid to ensure that residents of an assisted living community have access to nutritious and delectable meals. This includes not only the proverbial three square meals a day but also healthy and tasty snacks throughout the course of any given day as well.
Opportunity to socialize: An important benefit of assisted living is a consistent opportunity to socialize. A major issue with the aging population in the United States, including in California, is a decrease in socialization opportunities among women and men as they grow older. Regular social contact and interaction is deemed crucial to an older individual maintaining the best possible physical, emotional, and mental health.
Safe environment: An assisted living facility is a safe environment. This stems from the fact that it has around the clock staff on site. In addition, these facilities are outfitted to recognizing the physical limitations that can exist as a person grows older. Moreover, a typical assisted living facility utilizes comprehensive security systems that provide appropriate action in the event of some type of emergency, including something related to medical or health matters.
Programs and activities: A common and important benefit associated with an assisted living facility is the regular provision of a wide range of different types of programs and activities. These include everything from education and learning opportunities to different types of enrichment programs to social and entertainment activities and events. These programs and activities occurring at assisted living facilities are designed to enrich the lives of residents in a variety of different ways.
Around the clock staff: Around the clock staff was mentioned a moment ago in regard to the fact that an assisted living community is designed to be a secured facility. Around the clock staff at an assisted living facility provides other crucial assistance which are designed to enhance the wellbeing of residents and to make their lives at a particular center all the more enjoyable and gratifying.