Does Your Loved One Qualify for Assisted Living or Memory Care?
Cognitive challenges and reduced muscle strength are a natural part of the aging process, but it’s still hard to watch a loved one’s physical or mental health—or both—decline. It helps to recognize when it’s the right time for assisted living or memory care support.
Needs Help With Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
As we get older, it becomes harder to keep up with all the daily to dos—cooking, cleaning, laundry, repairs around the house. If these day-to-day essentials don’t get done, health hazards gather around your loved one, leading to low nutrition, poor hygiene, and falls.
Trouble Getting Around
Driving isn’t a deal breaker. Just because your loved one no longer drives doesn’t mean that they can’t live independently. They should, however, be able to make their own arrangements for transportation, like calling a van service, scheduling a ride share pickup, or getting on the right bus.
Forgetting People, Places and Things
We’ve all lost our keys or forgotten someone’s name. Signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s are more extreme. Does your loved one consistently show any of these signs?
- Searching for everyday words like “bench”
- Asking the same questions multiple times
- Losing items and finding them in strange places—like eyeglasses in the fridge
- Forgetting where they are
- Reacting to suspected memory issues with stress, suspicion, sadness or fear
Putting Excessive Strain on Your Caregiving Abilities
Caring for someone with dementia has a huge impact on family members in terms of stress, strain and health. According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2019 Facts and Figures report, caregivers for those with dementia:
- Have twice the emotional, financial and physical stress as those caring for a loved one without dementia
- Experience depression and anxiety at a significantly higher rate
- Report that their own health has gotten worse since caregiving began
Assisted living with memory care isn’t about admitting defeat. It’s about giving your loved one the appropriate care.
If your loved one’s signs of dementia are mild, they may only need the level of care assisted living communities provide. This includes help with medication management, dining services and other activities of daily living as needed over time.
If your loved one’s dementia has progressed, specialized memory care can help improve their ability to communicate and connect using research-based programming.
Does Your Loved One Qualify for Assisted Living?
Take this short quiz to help you determine if your loved one qualifies for assisted living or memory care.
- Does your loved one need help with any of these activities of daily living?
- Walking
- Eating
- Dressing
- Bathing or grooming
- Using the toilet
- Do you worry your loved one isn’t able to get their own groceries or prepare their own meals?
- Does your loved one have trouble with transportation?
- Are you concerned about your loved one’s ability to manage their own finances?
- Does your loved one no longer keep their home clean and well maintained?
- Have you noticed your loved one having problems managing phone calls and mail?
- Does your loved one forget to fill medications or take them as prescribed?
- Does your loved one forget words?
- Does your loved one often lose things?
- Has your loved one ever wandered off?
If you answered “yes” to five or more questions, your loved one may qualify for assisted living or memory care assisted living. Take the next step. Visit an assisted living community with a memory care program.
Assisted Living with Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care
Sonata assisted living communities in the heart of central and south Florida offer truly worry-free living customized to your loved one’s needs, interests and preferences. Our trained wellness and care staff are dedicated to nurturing and enhancing overall physical, emotional and spiritual wellness in ways that are meaningful and fulfilling to each individual in our care.
For one convenient monthly fee, your loved one will have a personalized care plan, access to a host of convenient services, pampering amenities, three delicious chef-prepared meals each day, scheduled transportation and a wide variety of entertainment and socializing.
If memory care is needed, many of our communities in central and south Florida offer our unique, award-winning program. Serenades by Sonata is staffed by compassionate dementia-certified caregivers who use research-based tools and techniques to help those with memory loss feel safe, happy and at home.
Many of our residents prefer to move into an assisted living community with memory care just in case they need it in the future. The transition is seamless without changing location.
Schedule a Home Visit To Qualify For Assisted Living
Perhaps you are still unsure if you or your loved one qualified for assisted living. Sonata Senior Living offers complimentary home visits. Meet with a knowledgeable senior living advisor to review your options in the comfort of your own home.
Don’t let concerns about coronavirus derail your plans to move to assisted living. Sonata Senior Living integrates advanced safety features and infection prevention guidelines to safeguard residents and guests, including creative social distancing.
To learn how Sonata can help, contact us today→ or schedule a visit →
A Practical Guide For Managing Alzheimer’s and Dementia Behaviors
Few people thrust into the role of caregiver have received any formal training on the confusing symptoms that can attend the onset of memory loss. Relying on experts in the field, our guide is a short yet comprehensive primer in managing behaviors associated with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
