Knowing how to provide the right support for an aging parent can be a tricky balancing act. When caregiver roles get reversed, it can make for some complex feelings on both sides.
One of the most common — and complicated — questions adult children navigate is when to consider assisted living for an aging parent. There’s no cut-and-dried answer, and the timing is contingent on each family’s unique dynamics and each senior’s personal needs.
However, there is one fairly universal truth when it comes to senior care planning: waiting for a crisis to begin exploring the options brings another layer of stress and worry. After all, a quick decision isn’t always the best decision.
Signs Assisted Living May Be Beneficial
If you’re worried that your aging parent needs help, it may be because you’ve noticed some behaviors or habits that seem out of character or unsafe. Discussing your concerns empathetically and compassionately can help your loved one understand your good intentions and create a constructive foundation for making changes.
Often, signs a senior needs assisted living appear gradually and increase in frequency or severity over time. Some may be harmless quirks that you chalk up to being part of the aging process. Others, however, can have the potential to impact your loved one’s safety and well-being.
Changes in daily routines
Humans are creatures of habit, so when their tried-and-true routines change, it can be a big surprise. Routine changes on their own aren’t necessarily an indicator that additional support is needed, but it can be a signal to dig deeper and understand why changes are happening.
If your mom suddenly stops a decades-long makeup and hairstyling routine, it’s worth figuring out why. She may not feel like it, now that she’s retired and living on her own terms. But if it’s because she’s experiencing depression or motor skill decline that physically prevents normal hygiene habits, that warrants deeper exploration.
Often, assisted living is warranted when an older adult isn’t able to complete what are known as the “activities of daily living” — things like bathing, dressing, grooming, preparing meals and basic household upkeep.
Medication management challenges
It goes without saying that medications are prescribed for a reason. However, skipping doses or accidentally double-dosing can have serious consequences. You may be able to rely on tools like timers and pillboxes to help your parent initially, but due to its potential life-and-death implications, this is one symptom that should not be overlooked.
Assisted living caregivers can not only help plan and administer medications, but they’re also a resource for monitoring potential side effects and worsening symptoms of the conditions they’re intended to treat.
Safety concerns
Everyone makes occasional mistakes and has accidents from time to time, but frequent incidents — or even one serious incident — that affect your parent’s physical or mental safety is worth watching closely.
Forgetting to turn off the stovetop or keeping (or worse yet, eating) spoiled food are examples of physical risks, but mental risks are a notable consideration, too. Older adults can easily become targets of scams and fraud, making it equally important to keep an eye on signs that their mental safety could be compromised.
Another critical consideration for senior safety at home is your loved one’s physical living environment. If adjustments can’t be made for your parent to comfortably and safely live in the home, including exiting safely on their own in the event of an emergency, a more suitable living space may be warranted.
Mobility issues
Living conditions that hinder free movement are one thing, but physical limitations that keep your loved one from moving freely through their home, and coming and going as needed, may be a sign it’s time to explore additional support.
You may notice your parent moving more slowly or seeming unsteady on their feet. Another common indication is an increase in bruises and wounds that suggest falls or other physical mishaps.
In an assisted living setting, resident living spaces are designed with mobility in mind, so aids like canes and walkers can offer needed support. Residents can also take advantage of wellness resources to improve strength and balance for better mobility.
Increasing isolation
It may not be as intuitive as some of the other indicators, but isolation can significantly impact your loved one’s quality of life in numerous ways. For many older adults, isolation leads to feelings of loneliness, which in turn feeds depression, anxiety and other mental health concerns.
Research also shows that older adults with strong social connections tend to be generally healthier than those with limited social contact. They’re more physically active, have lower disease risk but improved cognitive function, and are at lower risk of developing dementia, to name a few examples.
How Assisted Living Supports a Better Quality of Life
It’s very common for older adults to resist moving into a senior living community. However, in many cases that hesitance is driven by fear of the unknown or a misunderstanding about the role of assisted living. Helping your loved one understand what assisted living provides may help ease their mind and create opportunities for more open discussion about the idea of making a change.
One of the big misconceptions is the idea that moving to assisted living means giving up independence. In fact, the opposite is true. Contemporary senior living communities offer a continuum of care, with independent living residents who are fully autonomous on one end of the spectrum and skilled nursing and memory care patients who require ongoing care on the other. Assisted living falls in between, and usually closer to the independent side than not.
That’s because assisted living is all about recognizing care needs for seniors, pinpointing where they can use support and where they thrive most. Supportive care and therapies can help address areas of concern to minimize risk and improve quality of life, while empowering an older adult to maximize their abilities in other areas.
Consider nutrition as an example. As the years creep up, many older adults struggle with good nutrition. They may not have the inclination to cook healthy meals for themselves and instead rely on less healthy, quick alternatives. They may not get out as much and have less frequent grocery trips. Many older adults’ hunger cues change with age, and they simply aren’t as hungry as they once were.
As an assisted living resident, that same senior who was overweight or underweight now has daily access to well-balanced, nutritious meals prepared by a team of professionals. Suddenly, losing or gaining weight to achieve better health and reduce risk factors is easier.
Assisted living residents have access to all of the same community amenities, services and programs as independent living residents. They just get a helping hand to ensure they’re living their best life.
Considering Options Early Works in Everyone’s Favor
If you’ve begun to notice some concerning changes in your loved one, proactively evaluating future living options is a smart step in numerous ways.
Doing so gives you a productive way to channel your worries and do something meaningful in a potentially challenging situation. But perhaps even more important are the potential assisted living benefits for your loved one’s quality of life.
Numerous studies affirm that older adults who receive supportive care have improved outcomes across a variety of areas:
- Improved nutrition as a result of access to regular chef-prepared meals
- Stronger socialization through neighborly interactions and planned activities
- Better mental and emotional health, with lower stress, anxiety and depression
- Increased independence as a result of personalized support in targeted areas
- Cognitive improvements thanks to ongoing stimulation
- Enhanced safety with trained professionals and emergency care in easy reach
- More leisure time to enjoy retirement and all of its rewards
Practically speaking, there are also numerous functional advantages of exploring supportive options for your aging parent sooner rather than later, such as:
- Giving them a voice in the process while they’re able to clearly contribute and communicate their preferences for the future.
- The ability to make decisions without the pressure of an emergent need. When you’re pressed for an immediate decision, your options are often narrower than they may be otherwise.
- A chance to evaluate your options through various lenses, so you can choose the best fit for your loved one without the influence of heightened stress and emotion.
- Peace of mind from having a plan in place, so rather than scrambling to figure out what’s next, your energy can go to supporting your loved one’s immediate needs after an injury or illness.
- The opportunity to create a more seamless transition with adequate time to plan and prepare for a move.
Explore Assisted Living in Atlanta
Every family’s journey is uniquely its own, and having a trusted partner can make all the difference. Once you’re ready to begin exploring options for assisted living support for seniors in the Atlanta area, the caring and compassionate team at Canterbury Court is available to meet with families to answer questions and provide tours of Azalea View, the assisted living neighborhood where each resident receives personalized assistance just where they need it.