Independence and Dignity For Seniors

By Mindy Sowell, Owner

Assisted living residences provide supervision or assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs); coordination of services by outside health care providers; and monitoring of resident activities to help to ensure their health, safety, and well-being.

Assistance includes the administration or supervision of medication, or personal care services provided by a trained staff person.

Assisted living as it exists today emerged in the 1990s as an eldercare alternative on the continuum of care for people, normally seniors, for whom independent living is no longer appropriate but who do not need the 24-hour medical care provided by a nursing home. Assisted living is a philosophy of care and services promoting independence and dignity.

Assisted living facilities can range in size from a small residential house for one resident up to very large facilities providing services to hundreds of residents.

People who live in assisted living facilities usually have their own private or semi-private apartment. Trained staff are usually on-site around the clock to provide other needed services. Household chores are performed sheets are changed, laundry is done, and food is cooked and served.

A typical assisted living facility resident would usually be a senior citizen man or a woman who does not need the intensive care of a nursing home but prefers more companionship and needs some assistance in day-to-day living. Age groups will vary with every facility.

Residents of assisted living facilities need not be concerned with daily meal preparation, because a central kitchen and dining facility typically provides three meals each day. The central dining facility also allows for visiting with others without having to leave home. This greatly reduces the isolation that elderly, disabled people may suffer when living alone and who are afraid (usually for physical reasons) to leave their homes.