How Assisted Living Helps Families Enjoy Vacation Time Again

July 14, 2023 by ·
Family Caregivers: Assisted Living Saraland AL

Family Caregivers: Assisted Living Saraland AL

Vacation time for young kids and even early teenagers with family is a wonderful time to get away. It’s a time to explore new places, perhaps enjoy the beach, amusement parks, or even different countries. As we get older, though, vacation takes on a different meaning. For young adults, it’s a break from the grind of the new working life.

As people have children of their own, it’s a time to bond. It’s a time to watch those young kids play, discover new things, and visit new places. Yet, the one thing that vacation can stop being for many family caregivers is relaxing.

Family Caregivers

A family caregiver is somebody who is looking after a disabled or elderly family member. It might be a disabled adult child, sibling, spouse, or more likely an aging parent. This family caregiver is somebody who takes the role of primary caregiver upon themselves, even though they may have little to no experience doing it previously.

When a family caregiver wants to get away on vacation to get a break from their job or enjoy visiting new places with their family, kids, or with whomever they wish – it’s not the same anymore. Their mind or even their duties are divided. Sometimes, those elderly men and women travel with their family caregivers.

This person might be taking their 80-year-old father with them on vacation, just so they can get away and not worry whether their father is okay. It is exhausting. It is taxing. It is physically and emotionally draining. Plus, when returning from vacation, they often feel even more exhausted than they were when they left.

What Are the Options?

It’s not available at all assisted living facilities, but respite care could be the option that allows family caregivers time away without the stress of worrying whether their loved one is safe at home.

Not all assisted living communities will offer respite care, but for those that do, you might be able to have your elderly father or mother stay at the facility for a week or two, however long you may be away, and they will be surrounded by experienced staff members 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Other Assisted Living Benefits

First, it keeps the senior safe. Second, it allows you or that other family caregiver time away. It gives him or her the opportunity to relax and unwind, decompress, and reset. Third, the senior might reconnect with people he or she haven’t seen in a long time. Or they made make new friends.

Lastly, they might just discover all of the benefits that assisted living provides as an elder care choice in their future. It could be precisely what they need to realize where they want to be moving forward.

A lot of people dismiss assisted living as an option because they don’t know very much about it. Relying on the respite care option can help some seniors see it truly is the right elder care choice for them and their future.

If you or an aging loved one are considering a move to Assisted Living in Saraland, AL, contact Ashbury Manor Specialty Care and Assisted Living at 251-317-3017.

Filed Under: Assisted Living, Assisted Living in Saraland AL, Family Caregivers · Tagged: , ,
About Cindy Johnson

Ashbury Manor’s Administrator since 2008, Cindy Johnson is a long-time expert in the assisted living field. Prior to her arrival at Ashbury Manor, Cindy managed acquisitions and crisis management for existing and new larger senior care project developments for eleven years. As regional manager for an Oregon-based assisted living management company, Cindy was directly responsible for operations for five 50-65 bed assisted living facilities. As manager during the transition to new ownership, Cindy reorganized internal operations and conducted leadership training for Executive Directors. As a result of her management and expertise, one of the company’s facilities (in Ocala, Florida) received a deficiency-free survey, resulting in the lifting of a moratorium on operation.

A nurse for 36 years, senior care has always been Cindy’s passion. Desiring to work more closely with residents, Cindy became a Category II Administrator in 2005. As Ashbury Manor’s Administrator, Cindy understands the complexities associated with dementia and cognitive impairment and she has fallen in love with seniors with dementia or cognitive impairment and their families.

Cindy is Treasurer of the local “Senior Coalition” chapter. She enjoys mentoring new candidates who want to become administrators.

As a 16-bed facility, with Cindy's training and experience, our residents and their families can be sure Ashbury Manor’s carefully selected staff provides the expertise of a larger facility while maintaining the individualized personal care of a small special needs home.
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