Senior Care: Assisted Living vs. Memory Care—What to Know
Senior care can be quite difficult for most families, especially if their senior citizens are inflicted with progressive cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The ordeal can be particularly difficult for you and your family as it would entail a huge commitment to offering your time, patience, and utmost attention.
At some point, however, it may be too difficult for you or too dangerous for your senior citizen patient to continue without help, which is where the help of professionals come in. There are two basic types of senior care set-ups available: assisted living and memory care. Picking which is the perfect set-up for your patient will really depend on the specifics of what you need.
Assisted Living
The assisted living method is pretty much how it sounds like—it places a caregiver in charge of helping the senior citizen with their daily lives. This does not fall solely for people who are sick and frail, this can be given for individuals who find difficulty doing basic functions to maintain a regular lifestyle.
Most senior citizens still have a quick and sharp mind, but their bodies can limit their movement. Residents of an assisted living facility will find someone to help them get through each day, giving them an overall better quality of life.
Memory Care
Memory care, on the other hand, is much like assisted living, but stricter. This is usually the given option for people inflicted with a cognitive disorder as these patients tend to have more safety hazards surrounding them. This means a stricter layout, more active staff, and possibly even stricter schedules.
Memory care patients need extra safety measures to ensure that they won’t hurt themselves or others, which is why memory care facilities can be more restrictive. The staff at memory care facilities are also specially trained to handle patients with degenerative disorders, allowing them access to the best possible solutions for particular cases.
Which is better?
As stated earlier, choosing one or the other will solely be dependent on your need for it. For senior citizens who just need help in their daily life, then assisted living is optimal; meanwhile, those with cognitive impairment are better suited to go to a memory care facility to help them keep safe.
Although this is the norm, you can also opt to plan for a contingency and apply for an assisted living facility with a memory care program. While it can be more expensive, should there be any threat of a progressive cognitive condition that afflicts your loved one, the transition to memory care would not be too difficult for them. It is, after all, beneficial to a dementia or Alzheimer’s patient to be in a familiar environment during treatment, so some advanced planning can help you go a long way.
Final thoughts
Caring for a senior citizen can be quite taxing and dangerous, especially if they suffer from a chronic condition. As such, opting for professional senior care might be the safest option. Whether applying for assisted living or memory care, your loved ones can rest easy knowing that they are in good hands.
If you’re still unsure of what options you have, contact us now and speak to a dementia consultant in Houston. We offer consultancy and memory care services that suit all your needs.