As your parents age, you may notice changes. It could be small things like changes with their memory or hearing difficulties. It may also be bigger changes, like challenges with mobility or taking care of themselves. At some point, you may find yourself thinking about senior living care for your parents. When you do, it’s good to know what options exist for senior living care for your parents.

To understand the right senior living solution for your parents, it’s helpful to understand the basics. There are basic elements of senior living that are true of every community. At their core, they all provide housing and socialization for seniors. Beyond that, many communities can have similarities, but each is unique.

Levels of Senior Living Care for Your Parents

Every senior living community has care levels or care options. The care levels are based on how much or little assistance someone needs each day. They also consider the types of assistance that may be needed. When it comes to choosing senior living care for your parents, there are 4 main levels of care a community could offer that you should understand.

1.      Independent Living

Your parents may be able to take care of all their own needs and live independently. But you may want them to be less isolated and have less stress. Typically, in independent living your parents would live in a private villa, condo, or apartment. As residents of a senior living community, they can also often enjoy events and a maintenance-free life. There’s also peace of mind, knowing more help is available in the future if you choose a community that also offers other levels of senior living care for your parents.

2.      Assisted Living

If your parents need a little bit of help with their daily activities, then assisted living may be the best option for senior living care for your parents. In assisted living, your parents can maintain as much independence as possible, while getting the help they need. Assisted living includes assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). It includes things like dressing, bathing, using the bathroom, cooking and cleaning, and remembering to take medications.

3.      Memory Care

Memory care should be considered as a possible option for senior living care for your parents if they’ve been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Especially if their disease has made it unsafe for them to live independently. Most of the time, memory care offers the same assistance as assisted living, but with added structure, support, and security designed to help those experiencing memory challenges.

4.      Skilled Nursing (Long-term Care and Short-term Rehab)

Sometimes, your parents may need more assistance than what assisted living can provide. This is where skilled nursing care comes into play. Skilled nursing includes long-term care, where your parents can receive the highest level of care indefinitely. In contrast, short-term rehab offers your parents the highest level of care for only a short period of time. Short-term rehab is often beneficial following a hospitalization, such as for an illness, injury, or procedure such as a hip replacement.

Determining the Right Senior Living Care for Your Parents

Finding the right level of care for your parents comes down to understanding what they do and don’t need help with and their wishes for the future. Every level of care in senior living is determined based on activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).

ADLs and IADLs

The daily activities your parents may need assistance with can be broken into two categories: activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. ADLs are basic care. Things like using the bathroom, getting dressed, transferring, and showering or bathing. IADLs are different. They include things like cooking, cleaning, paying bills, and remembering to take medication. Depending on which care level is the right senior living care for your parents, they may get help with one or both types of activities.

Choosing the Right Type of Community for Senior Living Care for Your Parents

In general, the levels of care are the same from one community to the next. For instance, assisted living at one community should more or less include the same types of care as assisted living at another community. But, not every community offers every type of care. Some may only offer one, others a combination, and a few all.

Types of Senior Living Communities

Some senior living communities may only offer one type of care. This is especially true for skilled nursing care, which is what is commonly thought of as a traditional nursing home. It can also include villa home neighborhoods or general senior apartment complexes. Many senior living communities offer a combination of care levels. For example, you may see communities that offer independent living and assisted living, or assisted living and memory care.

Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC)

Some senior living communities, known as continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), offer all 4 types of care. These are less common than many types of communities, but they have many benefits. At a CCRC, the amount of care your parents receive is more fluid, and adapts as their needs do. Today they may thrive independently in a villa. But, if something happens in the future, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing are all available right on the same campus. You can enjoy extra peace of mind about the future if a CCRC is the right option of senior living care for your parents.

Picking the Best Senior Living Care for Your Parents

Beyond the type of care that’s best for your parents and the type of community you want to choose, there are still other factors to consider in your decision. It’s helpful to know the type of care and community you want in finding senior living care for your parents. But, there are other helpful things to consider in choosing the right community for your parents and for you.

Research, Tour, and Ask Questions

To pick the right senior living community, it’s important to do your research, go on tours, and ask questions. If you don’t live in the same area as your parents, you may be looking at communities where they live, communities where you live, or both. You don’t need to look at all of them, but it is helpful to research and tour more than one.

Research Senior Living Care for Your Parents

Many senior living communities offer information online about what you can expect at their community. Often, it can be fairly simple to find the information you’re looking for on their website. Sometimes you may have to fill out a form with your contact information to access their full brochure. But, you can still get a lot of information before you ever visit. Research also helps you understand what different communities may or may not offer.

Tour Senior Living Communities

Research can help you narrow down your search for the best senior living care for your parents. Once you have your short list, it’s time to start touring. It’s a good idea to tour 3-5 communities so you can see pros and cons and better compare to find the right choice. You may decide you want to go on an initial tour without your parents to get a sense of the community. However, it’s important to involve your parents in the conversation and decision so they should be involved in a tour at some point in the process. It never hurts to tour a community twice.

Ask Questions About Senior Living Care for Your Parents

The great part about touring a senior living community is that it’s the perfect opportunity to ask questions. You can also ask questions before you tour, especially if you’re on the fence about whether or not you want to tour the community. Make a list of the questions you or your parents may have beyond how many square feet and what will it cost. You can even talk to current residents and ask what it’s like to live at the community. Depending on the type of care and community you are looking at, you may also want to ask questions about what happens in the future if your parents need more care or can no longer afford the community.

Involve Your Parents in the Decision

Some seniors seek out senior living on their own and then tell their children what they’re planning to do. Other times, it’s the adult children looking at senior living for their parents who may be hesitant or resistant to the idea. If you are looking at senior living care for your parents, whether you think they will be on board with the idea or not, it’s important that you involve them in the decision-making process. Involving your parents maintains more of their independence and autonomy.

Open Conversations About Senior Living Care for Your Parents

Having open conversations is an important step in involving your parents in the decision-making process. Your conversation may include things like why you think a senior living community is a good idea for them and what their fears or concerns about the idea are. As you have open conversations with them, try to ask open-ended questions that lead to deeper answers than yes or no.

Ongoing Conversations About Senior Living Care for Your Parents

Discussing everything at once could be emotional and exhausting for everyone involved. This should be an ongoing conversation. It’s a big decision and doesn’t need to be decided or resolved in a single conversation. Don’t rush the decision or expect everything to be perfect overnight. It takes time for your parents – and you – to adjust.

Ready to start your senior living research?

If you’re ready to start your senior living research, we have resources to help you. Our Here to Help series offers guides on the biggest senior living topics and questions. The in-depth guides cover topics like senior living care levels, senior living community types, signs it may be time for memory care, and more. Request your free guides today.

Senior Living at The Ohio Masonic Communities

At The Ohio Masonic Communities, we have 3 senior living communities to meet the needs and interests of you and your parents.

• Browning Masonic Community in Waterville, Ohio offers independent living villas and apartments, assisted living, and memory care.
• Springfield Masonic Community in Springfield, Ohio is a Continuing Care Retirement Community and offers independent living villas and apartments, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing care.
• Western Reserve Masonic Community in Medina, Ohio is the only Continuing Care Retirement Community in Medina County and offers independent living villas and apartments, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing care.

Learn More About The Ohio Masonic Communities

You can request our brochure to learn more about each of our communities and what they offer. Each brochure includes information about floorplans, amenities, lifestyle, and pricing to make it easy for you to have the information you’re looking for.

If you want to learn more about senior living or the resources we have available, we’d love to hear from you.  Give us a call at 1 (877) 881-1623 or contact us here. We have three senior living communities across the state of Ohio. Browning Masonic Community in Waterville, Ohio, Springfield Masonic Community in Springfield, Ohio, and Western Reserve Masonic Community in Medina, Ohio.