Assisted Living News

Have you or a loved one been putting off assisted living because you’re worried about communities’ pet policies? An increasing number of assisted living communities are accepting pets, and many even offer pet care. The Benefits of Pet Ownership 91-year old Ed Volick, a pioneer of the American space program, walks his cat, Scooter, every day at Summit at Lakeway Assisted Living in Austin, Texas. While walking cats on a leash is unusual, longevity among pet owners isn’t.  Pet owners, ...

A main role of the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) is to track legislation that could potentially affect their members. This not only helps assisted living communities be aware of pending changes to the law, but gives them an opportunity to help shape legislation before it comes to fruition. According 2012 State Regulatory and Legislative Snapshot ALFA has been tracking 586 bills that would change change assisted, and so far, 186 of those bills have been enacted. Their report outlines, s...

The Department for Housing and Urban Development, more commonly known as HUD helps to provide affordable housing for hundreds of thousands of seniors across the country.  Most of those seniors live in subsidized senior apartments or independent living communities that offer very limited assistance, if any. This can be problematic, because seniors will develop care needs at their age. Seniors who rely on HUD subsidized housing will often remain in their low rent senior apartments because of they can&#...

This week we answer more readers’ questions about senior living topics. We address veteran’s aid and divorce, and how to find the histories of senior living communities. Q: I am trying to help my 91 year old friend who is getting too frail to live alone but can’t afford assisted living. She was married for about 26 yrs to a WWII vet until his death. After 3 or 4 years of widowhood she married a man who never served in the military. That unfortunate marriage ended in divorce about 13...

This post is the first of an ongoing series in which we will answer readers’ questions about a variety of senior related topics. Today we address issues ranging from guardianship to the complexities of veteran’s benefits. Don’t hesitate to send us your own questions for us to answer on our blog. Q: My mother-in-law is 93 and served in the active duty military during World War II in the Navy. I think they were called WAVES. She was recently in the hospital and then sent to a long-ter...

In Loveland, Colorado, Santa Claus is checking his list, and checking it twice, but this list has much older folks than usual. Secret Santas for the Elderly, a nonprofit founded in 1996, organizes volunteers to visit with and check on residents of assisted living communities and nursing homes who aren’t fortunate enough to have family that visit regularly. Since the organization’s inception, their volunteers have visited and brought gifts to more than 7,000 Loveland seniors. The organizat...

A recent article in the Carroll County Times in Westminster, Maryland described neighbors’ resistance to a proposed senior community. A developer had planned a community on 15 acres with 100 units of assisted living and 90 units of memory care, but those plans have been shelved after residents complained about the prospect of increased traffic and noise from sources such as ambulances and garbage trucks. The developer, Marc Silverman, countered that it’s “ridiculous to think that pe...

5 Award Winning Communities Examined The magazine published by the >Assisted Living Federation of America, Senior Living Executive, recently announced the winners and runners up of the 2012 Senior Living by Design competition. The award honors assisted living facilities with original and creative architecture – communities that are both functional and downright beautiful. Here are the winning senior housing communities. We’ll highlight some of the runners up in a future post. Grand Prize:...

WESH News in Orlando, Florida recently reported that an illegal, unlicensed assisted living home was shut down by state investigators after an unfortunate episode was brought to light.  In the incident, “a resident of the home arrived at the emergency room unconscious and bleeding from the head. The man with him could not provide information other than that the victim is mentally challenged.” The man later admitted to giving the resident “a number of unknown medications all at once....

– My grandmother’s journey to assisted living, from the agonizing transition to her happy 90th birthday – I began working in the senior living industry almost four years ago, and haven’t looked back since. I love everything about it. But like most professionals, I strive to maintain a well defined barrier between my home-life and work-life. But maintaining this barrier isn’t always possible in this field. For example, my grandmother, Lola, has lived at an assisted living...

What You Need to Know About Preventing Wandering When seniors become lost due to confusion or memory loss it can be extremely frightening for both the  family of the senior, and the senior who is lost. Unfortunately, it is a very common occurrence. Nearly everyday in the press there are reports about elderly people who have gone missing. These episodes are almost invariably cases of people with Alzheimer’s or dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, about six of ten seniors wit...

Super Storm Sandy was the largest storm to hit the Northeast in decades. As of writing, it’s known to have caused at least 97 deaths, and $20 billion dollars of damage. Seniors have been particularly affected. Impact of Sandy on Senior Citizens It’s well known that the elderly are among the most vulnerable populations to extreme weather. After all, many older people have a difficult enough time getting on as it without natural disasters, so naturally they’ve been especially impacted...