If your close friend, family member, or other loved one has been diagnosed with a memory-related illness such as Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, then it may be time to consider the move to professional and established memory care facilities.
With that in mind, continue reading for a comprehensive guide to memory care facilities and how they can help your loved one.
What Are Memory Care Facilities?
Essentially, memory care facilities are specialized communities for older adults who have memory problems and substantially differ from assisted and independent living facilities in a wide plethora of ways.
Such differences include, but are in no way limited to:
- An altogether more structured daily timetable for activities and mealtimes
- More trained staff for residents’ needs
- Tailor-made and designed activities and social excursions specifically for people with memory problems
- An increased level of supervision and monitoring of residents
- Higher level of staff training and qualifications
- More secure rooms and doors to prevent wandering and harm
Choosing a Memory Care Facility for Your Loved One
Memory care facilities are usually attached to an existing assisted living or independent living community, and this results in prestigious and established retirement communities in Delaware providing continuing and changing care as necessary for the individual.
There is a wide plethora of key elements and attributes to a particular memory care facility that would be prudent to look out for when touring potential sites.
These include, but are not limited to:
- The level and standard of onsite security, both throughout the day and night
- The existence of personalized care plans
- The staff to resident ratio within the facility
- The presence of medically trained professionals 24/7
- Specialized care for secondary conditions such as diabetes or physical restrictions
- Safety features such as emergency alarms, keypads on doors, and exit alarms
- The pricing system and whether or not there are additional fees for add-on services
Other Types of Senior Living Communities
Aside from memory care facilities, there are several other primary types of senior living communities.
Independent living communities are essentially places where older adults can live out their lives to the full and live entirely independently. The main advantage to such communities, however, is that should the physical or emotional health and wellbeing decline in the ensuing years, there is plenty of support and care options present.
Nursing homes provide the most comprehensive level of nurturing care and medical assistance, as well as medical treatment, of all the senior living community options. A resident is assessed outside of the nursing home, so upon arrival, the medical staff are fully briefed as to their personalized care and treatment plans.
Assisted living facilities are placed somewhere in between independent living communities and nursing care homes and provide an independent, self-contained flat whereby the resident can live as independently as they want to or indeed can for as long as possible.