assisted living facilities

How Involved Should Families Be with Seniors in Assisted Living?

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Chances are, you have a family member who’s about to move into one of the assisted living facilities in your area. With the baby boomers reaching their late adulthood years, there has been a steady growth of seniors moving into these facilities so they can get more supervised care and a better quality of life as they deal with the different changes of growing old.

 

Since this is a highly emotional decision for the family, it’s not uncommon for you to wonder about how involved you should be in the care of your loved one.

 

Here, we help you understand your role better as a family member and how you could help give your loved one an excellent life while in assisted living:

 

You can be involved without being nosy.

 

You want your family member to feel comfortable and loved while in assisted living facilities and that’s what the staff is there for. You can be involved by making sure that you are available to talk with the team about matters regarding the care of your loved one.

 

You can also be present whenever you can without invading the space of the healthcare team to allow them to do their job right. If you see a problem, don’t criticize.

 

Instead, make suggestions that will help them improve the quality of care. Never step over the boundaries of employees because they know better than you when it comes to your loved one’s care.

 

Invest in quality time with your loved one.

 

Whenever you have the time to visit your loved one, make sure to spend your time well not only in caring for him but also in helping out the facility. Some spouses usually visit residents almost daily and aside from spending time with them, they also volunteer to help out with preparing meals or assisting other residents without interfering with the job of the staff. How you spend your time with your loved one is more important than the length of time you spend with him, so make every minute count.

 

Be an advocate but never feel entitled.

 

Staff members in assisted living facilities love family members who are advocates of their loved ones’ wellbeing. They are there when needed and they do everything to help out in the care of the residents.

 

But there are also times when families become too unrealistic about their expectations from the healthcare team. Some would start demanding that their loved one needs to be cared for by one nurse, but that can be very unrealistic in an assisted living setting where there’s no one-to-one staff-to-resident ratio.

 

As a family member, you only want the best for your loved one. After all, that’s the primary goal of sending him to an assisted living facility.

 

But you also need to know your boundaries when it comes to your involvement in the care of your loved one to maintain a good relationship with the staff and ultimately, provide the best care possible to the resident.

 

 

 

Fallbrook Assisted Living is proud to offer its services to Fremont, NE, and surrounding areas and cities: Arlington, Cedar Bluffs, Ames Nickerson, Fontanelle, Arlington, Leshara, Colon, and Hooper

memory care

The Four Best Practices for Effective Memory Care

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Every year, at least 10 million people around the world are diagnosed with dementia. The life-changing and debilitating condition that affects memory, cognition and even the ability to perform simple activities is affecting more than 50 million people. Plus, with the elderly population growing, these numbers are expected to increase immensely over the next few years.

 

Memory care is now one of the most important pillars of the medical world. The practice that deals with patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and other dementias focus on improving their quality of life by slowing down disease progression, preserving memory and offering independence through the following four best practices.

 

Practices

 

1. Promoting proper nutrition

 

Studies have proven that a lack of proper nutrition and the inadequate consumption of food and fluids could easily speed up the progression of the disease due the decline in the patient’s overall wellbeing.

 

Therefore, a good memory care facility always conducts screenings to assess the patient’s nutritional needs for the healthcare team to plan the appropriate care depending on the patient’s life circumstances and preferences. Mealtimes are also used as a form of socialization where patients can interact with other people while enjoying their food.

 

2. Creating meaningful activities

 

Throughout the day, patients are given the opportunity to enjoy different activities that will not only allow them to functional normally but also help deal with their condition more effectively.

 

Memory care staff always promotes independence by allowing patients to make their own bed, tidy their room, water the plants, and perform self-care activities so they still feel a sense of purpose despite their inability to remember things. This will make them feel more empowered as they tackle their disease and ensure that they continue to live a good quality of life.

 

3. Ensuring socialization

 

Socialization and interaction are very important parts of memory care because they help patients keep the functional abilities, promote better self-esteem and enhance their quality of life.

 

Healthcare teams usually plan activities that allow patients to enjoy great conversations and share experiences with their carers, family members and the staff. But memory care also respects the need for space and alone time of some of its patients.

 

4. Keeping things simple and attainable

 

Patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia have difficulties coping up with their condition and it can get extremely frustrating for them to not be able to do activities that they used to be capable of.

 

That is why it’s very important for memory care staff to keep routines, schedules and approaches as simple as possible. This means focusing only on what makes an activity successful and getting rid of non-essential things that can only cause worry and frustration.

 

As the medical world still works on finding a cure for dementia and Alzheimer’s, memory care plays a very crucial role in ensuring that everyone suffering from these medical conditions are not only properly cared for but also allowed to enjoy the best years of their life despite the limitations posed by the disease.

 

Fallbrook Assisted Living is proud to offer its services to Fremont, NE, and surrounding areas and cities: Arlington, Cedar Bluffs, Ames Nickerson, Fontanelle, Arlington, Leshara, Colon, and Hooper