Have you reached the point where your house is just too hard to keep up with? You enjoy the freedom that you have with living independently, but you struggle to keep up with the maintenance and care of the house. This is a common dilemma that many seniors face. Do you give up your independence for other senior living options or do you struggle to keep up with living alone? There are many senior living options that allow you to hold onto your independence, while also receiving the following benefits
Greater access to medical and emergency care
One of the greatest worries of living alone is immediate access to medical or emergency care. When a senior lives alone, families often worry about what would happen if they experienced a medical problem. Would they struggle to get to the phone to call for help? How long would it take for someone to find them? When you make the decision to move to local assisted living options, you always have nearby medical care. You also have many people that can call for emergency care, if needed.
Increase in social connections
Seniors are at risk of loneliness. This is especially true if they are living alone, away from any family or friends. When you make the decision to move to local retirement homes, you are surrounding yourself with others in similar living situations. The other members of your community are also retired and most assisted lifestyles have daily activities to promote further social connection. According to a 2009 Independent Living Report by the ProMatura Group, LLC, research shows that when you become part of an independent living retirement community, you are more likely to make new friends and try new things and most report a better experience than they ever expected.
Decrease in required home chores
Owning a house can be a lot of work. You have to keep up with the interior, as well as the exterior of the house. You have to make sure that your lawn is kept cut and that the snow is removed from your driveways and sidewalks. Many seniors find it difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with these required home chores. Choosing senior living options, however, gives you a low maintenance living option. Even minor tasks like cooking meals and cleaning up after cooking can be overwhelming.
Assisted living residences usually provide or coordinate 24 hour supervision that includes three meals a day plus snacks in a group dining room and a range of services that promote resident quality of life and independence, including personal care services, health care services, medication management, social services, arrangements for transportation, laundry service, and also housekeeping and maintenance. This decrease in required home chores can also increase overall enjoyment of living.
Control of medical conditions
A lot of seniors are dealing with persistent, chronic medical conditions. This usually requires daily medication and frequent physician checkups. Living alone can make it tough to find transportation to appointments and to keep up with medication schedules. Senior living options usually include daily medication management as well. With more than three fourths of assisted living residents having at least 2 of the 10 most common chronic conditions, high blood pressure and Alzheimer’s dementias being the most prevalent, elder care options can help to control these daily medical conditions.
Seniors today want to hold onto their independence for as long as possible. This usually means remaining in their home, even past chronic medical conditions and disorders. However, moving into other senior living options can actually improve quality of life by offering added social interactions, daily activities, transportation services, and medical and medication management. With today’s assisted lifestyles, seniors can continue living alone, yet with the added assistance of other elder care options.
