Care Perspectives From Senior Solutions

The more an assisted living community can re-create and resemble resident’s home lives, the easier the transition will be. Activities are a major part of what makes assisted living fun. Too often seniors will slow down on getting out or doing things due to mobility or other constraints. When they are taking place on site at their new home, they are more likely to participate. A good assisted living community will ensure that there is a variety of choices for residents to choose from like:

The images of a lifetime remain in the memory, but they just won’t unlock in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists are discovering that most memories are stored as images and aren’t destroyed by dementia or Alzheimer’s. This finding has incredibly important implications for dementia care program offerings – incorporating visual therapy such as art just might help release memories and sooth dementia patients who struggle to communicate.

When you think about who needs access to the internet, tablets, smartphones and all the modern technology tools that keep us connected, you may not think about your aging parents who are thinking about moving to a senior living residence. However, consider the conclusions of a new study. Dr. Helen Feist of the University of Adelaide, Australia, explored how technology could help older people in the more rural areas of Australia. She spent three years on this study and concluded that ,”In order for people to remain integrated within a world that increasingly relies on new technology, it is important that older people are offered opportunities to adopt and use new technologies such as computers, smartphones, personal tablets and the internet.”

 Way back around 350BC, Aristotle famously wrote, “Man is a social animal.” Decades of anthropological research back up his astute observation. Though we are individuals, we are also members of a group and have evolved and thrived by depending on each other and forming close communities. Think about this observation: With hundreds of miles open to habitation, people still tend to build their houses close to the houses of other people. No matter the continent, no matter the culture, no matter the era, this is what we do. And to find an individual choosing to live completely alone in the world is so rare as to confirm that human beings need to live amongst each other; indeed we are compelled from within ourselves to group together.

It’s hard to watch our loved ones grow older and slow down physically and mentally. While many changes are a normal part of the aging process, others are serious and can put your mom or dad in danger. You need to pay close attention to signs of decline and, if necessary, acknowledge that this might be the time for a move to an assisted living community.

Giving up the car keys for good is one of the toughest and most significant life changing events for seniors. You and your loved one probably share some wonderful memories of cross-country trips taken together as a younger family. Your dad may have been a real car buff with a long history of driving fast cars (and driving mom crazy.) Getting out on the road with the wind blowing through your hair and the open horizons ahead is one of the simplest yet greatest joys of living in this beautiful country. Losing that sense of freedom and mobility for the assisted living resident can lead to feelings of depression and isolation.

It seems that the old adage “you are what you eat” has real merit. For seniors, it’s especially important to maintain a healthy diet to ward off or delay many of the negative conditions associated with aging. That’s why one of the important factors in the choice of a senior living community is the quality and healthfulness of the food. Make sure you carefully look into the assisted living nutrition plan and consider whether your loved one will have regular access to healthy dietary choices.

The best assisted living communities make it a priority to have an energetic and creative activities director on their staff.  This individual is tasked with keeping residents busy and happy and stimulated. A good activities director will continually ask residents and their loved ones for input so that the calendar is filled with a well-rounded range of assisted living activities designed to engage residents of all different abilities and interests and to reflect their own interests as community members. Assisted living activities are important for more than just fun and games, though. One study of more than 5,500 participants aged 65 years or older concluded that stimulating leisure activities were significantly associated with a reduced risk of dementia.