What Is Life Like at an Assisted Living Community?
If you are an older individual thinking about long-term care, you may wonder what life is like in an assisted living community. The same likely holds true if you are an adult child of an aging parent thinking about assisted living as a possibility for your parent. Through this article, we provide an overview for you of what life is like in an assisted living community. In order to best understand what life is like in assisted living, we walk you through what fairly can be said to be a typical day in assisted living.
Morning in Assisted Living
A key thing to understand about life in assisted living is that you are not subjected to a regimented life. You have the freedom to largely go through your day as you would like.
In an assisted living community, there are set times for meals. In addition, throughout any given week, there will be an array of activities, events, and programs that are scheduled for specific times.
In addition, there is 24-hour staffing in an assisted living community. What this means is that if you need care and assistance, there is always someone around.
Your day in assisted living generally begins when you desire. The first person that you are apt to see in the morning is a care associate who will check on you.
If you need assistance with different activities of daily living, any thing that need to be addressed in the morning can take place at that time. For example, if you need assistance with bathing, dressing, personal hygiene, or similar activities, that type of help will be available to you in the morning. If you need other types of assistance, this type of help will also be available to you as necessary throughout the course of any given day.
Most people in assisted living do take medications. Oftentimes, medications are taken in the morning. A person charged with the task of medication management in an assisted living community will make certain that you do take your required medications in the morning and also throughout the day as required.
Meals in Assisted Living
Meals are something of an anchor in an assisted living community. A typical assisted living community serves three meals a day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – in a dining room or multipurpose room. If you prefer, you can also eat meals in your room, although you are encouraged to join your fellow residents in the dining room as often as possible.
Larger assisted living communities have cafes that permit you the ability to grab something to eat any time throughout the day. In addition, snacks are available to residents throughout the day as well.
Meals in an assisted living community are created to be nutritious and tasty. If you have special dietary needs, these can be addressed in an assisted living community as well.
In assisted living communities, you will have input into menus. In larger communities, you will have different entrées, side dishes, desserts, and other menu selections with each meal. In smaller assisted living communities, residences are apt to be more active in selecting items to be on meal menus each week.
In some assisted living communities with studio or apartment accommodations, residents will have equipped kitchens of kitchenettes. This allows residents the ability to prepare their own meals if they so desire.
Activities, Events, Programs in Assisted Living
In an assisted living community, residents have access to an array of different types of activities, events, and programs throughout the course of any given week. Within an assisted living community, these activities, events, and programs can include everything from fitness offerings to enrichment programming to entertainment opportunities – and much more.
In addition to onsite activities, assisted living residents will also have the ability to participate in things away from a facility as well. These activities typically include a wide range of different types of opportunities.
Evening in Assisted Living
Things do quiet down in the evening in an assisted living community. With that said, there are still activities that occur in the evening at a typical assisted living community.
Once again, an assisted living caretaker will be available to assist you with any activities of daily living that you may need assistance with in the nighttime. Assistance from an assisted living caretaker is specifically built around your needs throughout the entirety of any given day.
Other Services in Assisted Living
In addition to what occurs in a typical day in assisted living, other services are available to residents as needed. For example, transportation will be provided for medical, dental, and other appointments. Again, the care plan at an assisted living community is designed around an individual resident. In addition, a care plan is reviewed regularly to ensure that it continues to meet your needs as a resident of an assisted living community.