Spot The Signs: Is It Time for a Loved One to Move to Senior living?
Is It Time for a Loved One to Move to Senior Living?
It can be unsettling, and often difficult, for many adult children to consider that their mother or father might be unable to continue to live on their own at home. Sometimes, all that’s needed is a bit of extra assistance now and then. Or, it could be that living at home is no longer a safe option. Asking yourself a few basic questions about your parent’s daily life can help indicate if it’s time for senior living.
What To Look For: Signs It Might Be Time For Senior Living
At Herrick House, the North Shore’s most trusted choice for retirement living in Beverly, Massachusetts, we want to help you and your family make the right decision. Take a look at the checklist below, and mark which seem to apply to your loved one’s situation.
Possible Warning Signs (check if applies)
- Spends most days alone
- Spends most days indoors
- No longer pursues favorite activities
- Confusion with medication
- Housework seems neglected (laundry, dishes, yard & garden)
- Depending on canned and frozen goods
- Stopped regular food shopping trips
- Generally eats alone
- Indication of falls, bruises, etc.
- Noticing evidence of wandering (takes too long to return from trips, forgets where they are going, restlessness
- Confusion about layout of home
- Lack of awareness about date and time
- Changes in personality
- Cannot manage finances (unpaid bills, unopened statements)
- Getting lost traveling to familiar places
If you find that you have checked several items above, it might be a good time to start researching options for retirement living in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Next Steps
A senior living community offering assisted living and memory care could be the solution that works best for your loved one and your family when it’s time for senior living. That’s because these communities are purposefully designed with the safety, comfort and wellbeing of older adults in mind. Everything is geared to help each individual achieve healthy aging with as much independence as possible.
For example:
• Socialization. Today’s assisted living communities are vibrant and active places, where a full calendar of events helps keep residents engaged and connected. Research confirms that spending time with friends and family members can boost quality of life, improve memory and reduce stress, just to name a few benefits.
Herrick House is just the right size for residents to make friends and mingle comfortably, whether it’s around the grand piano in the parlor, sitting by the fireplace, outdoors on the covered porch and in the courtyard, and in any of the other cozy gathering spots.
• Medication Management. Taking a prescribed medication at the wrong time, mixing medications, or just having difficulty reading a label or opening a package can lead to serious consequences and indicate it’s time for senior living. In fact, it’s estimated that daily, 750 older people in the United States are hospitalized due to serious side effects from medications. It’s a major source of concern for family members. That’s why most assisted living communities today include medication management in their personal care program. Herrick House goes even further, as the area’s only senior living community with a licensed nurse on-site 24/7 to administer medications.
• Nutrition. Mealtime should be a pleasant experience, one that both satisfies the appetite as well as nutritional needs. For many seniors living at home, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy diet. Getting to a grocery may be difficult or even impossible. Trying to prepare a meal may be too frustrating due to problems with vision or pain from arthritic joints. Memory issues can result in skipped meals. And simply always eating alone can lower the desire to even go to the trouble of preparing a meal. A modern assisted living environment changes all that.
Meals are often served family-style, under the direction of a professional chef who understands the importance of senior nutrition as well as flavorful selections. With friends and neighbors around them, residents can look forward to mealtimes as relaxing, upbeat experiences.
• Safety. Falls are the leading cause of injury and injury death in adults 65 and older. Living at home can present a range of hazards for an older adult with mobility or cognitive issues. Climbing stairs daily. Walking on loose rugs that slip. Carrying baskets of laundry. Trying to reach high cabinets on a rickety stepladder. Changing a furnace filter in the attic or basement.
Modern senior living communities such as Herrick House are designed for the safety of seniors from top to bottom. Bathrooms with grab bars and night lighting to help avoid falls. Carpeting in residences for extra warmth and traction. Controls and door handles reachable by a wheelchair. And maybe most importantly, an attentive staff always close by to take care of maintenance issues.
• Quality of Life. If you and your family are considering retirement living in Beverly, Massachusetts for a loved one, the good news is how it most likely will enhance the quality of their lives. At Herrick House, your loved one can remain close to family and friends, to the neighborhoods where they lived and worked, and to the things that are most familiar. They’ll benefit from a customized care plan, and feel right at home in an intimate setting that is warm and inviting. We welcome you to come see for yourself.
When you decide it’s time for senior living, we can help you find the living option that fits you. Contact us to learn more about Herrick House or to schedule your tour.
