Assisted Living News

Can Senior Communities Have Men and Women Room Together? Q: My sister is 15 years older than me and lives in a small residential care home. They now have her rooming with a male.  It is a seven  bed facility and the administrator moved them together to make room for a sixth person that wanted to single room.   – Elizabeth Dear Elizabeth The rules and regulations for assisted living communities and care homes vary by state, and without knowing your state we can’t say whether this is permit...

Q: My aunt, has within the last 6 years become addicted to scratch off tickets at any local gas station. I worry about her safety. She lives alone (insists on it) and comes and goes as she pleases. She states that this gambling is her social life. She knows all the other gamblers that hang out in the same places. Anyway, she does has a bowel and incontinence problem which we have just recently gone for an MRI because of that. We will have some results tomorrow.  She has no interest in doing anything ...

Q: My mom lives in Portland, Oregon. She’s 68 years old and has very limited mobility due to multiple sclerosis. She also has glaucoma and is a breast cancer survivor. (She was only given a 50/50 chance of surviving by her doctor’s sbut today she is cancer free.) My mom is a medical marijuana patient. She believes marijuana helped her survive cancer, and she says it helps immensely with her MS and glaucoma. Her doctor says that if she weren’t using marijuana she would need 18 differ...

Q: My father was a bit of a wild-man and a low level player in organized crime before eventually having a religious conversion, settling down and starting a family. He has a felony conviction related for a non-violent crime related to cigarette smuggling dating back to 1972. Dad served his time, was born again, and has been on the right side of the law ever since then. Now he is elderly and needs personal care at an assisted living community. Will his criminal record be an obstacle towards finding ca...

Q: My elderly father lives with me and has moderate dementia and is prone to wandering. Sometimes he says “I just need to get home,” even when he already is at home. Other times in the morning he will get dressed and try to wander out the front door while saying he is “going to work”…He has been retired for 19 years. My husband and I are at our wits end because we can’t really leave him alone because we don’t know if he’d try to leave the house. And I c...

Dear AssistedLiving.Com: I work part time at a large retailer and just learned that under Obamacare I will be able to afford health insurance for the first time. My mother works at assisted living and I am wondering how Obamacare affects assisted living residents and if my mother’s long-term care costs will change? Debbi Hi Debbi, The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, will not really affect the world of long-term care whatsoever. Assisted living care is formally considered non-m...

Alcohol is an enigmatic substance. Humans have enjoyed it for thousands of years, using it medicinally, recreationally and religiously. It’s capable of bonding humans, lifting spirits, and consoling this disheartened. But it’s also a dangerous drug responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and ruined lives. Does alcohol belong in assisted living communities? Some argue it’s unsafe and irresponsible to provide residents alcohol, while others argue that it’s unkind, unnecessar...

Q: I have always enjoyed working with seniors and would like to volunteer to work with seniors at an assisted living community. How do I go about doing that? Brightening the day of a senior can be tremendously rewarding, so people frequently ask us how they can volunteer at assisted living communities. Volunteers are always appreciated at assisted living communities and nursing homes, and they can contribute in a variety of ways. Volunteers can help with activities, lead classes, socialize with senio...

It’s undeniable that most assisted living residents have lived quite a while, but what terms should we use to describe these venerable adults? The language surrounding aging can be sensitive. The word that’s used for people who have lived more than six or seven decades has changed with time. Bryan Garner wrote in Modern American Usage: “‘Elderly’ began as a euphemism for aged ‘old’, but even ‘elderly’ has now acquired negative connotations. Perhap...

So you’ve narrowed your senior housing search down to two or three of the most appropriate facilities for your elderly parent or parents. You’ve toured them all, sometimes more than once. You’ve asked all their staff the right questions. You’ve talked to knowing professionals, such as your AssistedLiving.com Senior Living Advisor and the local long-term care ombudsman, about their honest opinions of your remaining options. You’ve even viewed the community’s inspect...

Imagine a senior named Elda. She is seventy-eight and lives alone. Her health is fair, but she has arthritis and hasn’t been able to clean her house’s roof in years. That’s always been something she paid for. But when roof cleaning time came again this year, she didn’t pay at all, at least not with money. Elda recently became a member of a local time-bank. What Is a Time-Bank? A time-bank is a community of people who have agreed to trade each other their services, or their tim...

Seniors have been quick to adopt Apple’s iPad, a device that in their childhood would have seemed like a science fiction fantasy. According to a study by eMarketer, iPad use among seniors grew 190% during 2011. This powerful but lightweight touchscreen computer is the size of a notepad and so intuitive that even a two-year-old can use it. We conducted an informal survey of older family members and friends to learn their favorite iPad apps. Here are the results: Memory Aids 1. Pageonce (free):Th...

Carlsen Trads is president of Clarity, a consumer electronics company focused on developing adaptive hearing aids for seniors. We invited Trads to talk about hearing loss and discuss how new technologies are improving the quality of life of seniors with impaired hearing. by visiting blogger, Carlsen Trads Hearing loss is the third most common health issue in the US, and because ten thousand Baby Boomers turn 65 every day, it’s becoming even more prevalent. Of those over the age of 65, 33% exper...

Fran Ferguson, an 81 year-old resident at Sunrise on Connecticut Avenue in Washington D.C. won an apartment-makeover by top designers at HGTV. The apartment makeover was the prize in the Suite Style essay writing contest for Sunrise Senior Living residents, which Ferguson won by writing about the importance of resilience. The HGTV designers worked closely with Ferguson, talking to her about her tastes and preferences to help create the perfect apartment for her. For example, Ferguson’s favorite...

Last year A Place for Mom (who operates this website) conducted a survey of the pricing of the thousands of assisted living communities in our network, and released the results as part of our 2012 Cost of Care Survey. The survey revealed a wealth of fascinating information about the cost of senior care, including the states where assisted living is most expensive. Last week our blog asked the quest “Is Assisted Living Over Priced?” and concluded that evidence suggests it is not. Our post ...