Being that November is National Long-Term Care Awareness Month, you may be wondering if your aging mother needs skilled nursing at assisted living. As one of the best elder care options available, assisted living can provide a wide range of supports to elderly residents in need.
Keep in mind, though, that it’s vital you check with a specific assisted living facility directly to find out what services or special functions are available to residents within their care. That’s because every assisted living facility operates differently and will provide various services to meet the needs of their residents.
What could be an example of unique services?
Assisted Living Mobile, Al: Skilled Nursing Benefits
Memory care, for one. For a person who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia, or who is struggling with their memory due to some other incident, injury, or disease, memory care would be an essential option for them moving forward in their life.
This involves experienced staff members supporting and assisting the resident or residents in a variety of daily tasks. They understand how memory loss can impact a person, including leading to frustration, confusion, and anxiety and provide a host of benefits that can alleviate some of those negative emotions.
What about direct nursing care services?
When it comes to elder care, a senior may need direct medical assistance on a regular and continual basis. They may assume that assisted living is just a place for elderly residents to live so they don’t have to worry about cleaning, preparing meals, and other basic activities of daily life.
However, some assisted living facilities do provide direct nursing care services. This could include administering of medications, checking vital stats, relaying information to the individual’s primary doctor for ongoing monitoring, and much more.
Not all assisted living communities will provide nursing services, but may have a doctor or nurse come in every once a while, such as once every other week. Other assisted living communities won’t provide much in the way of nursing services, aside from perhaps persistence administering medications.
When an elderly person needs regular, ongoing medical assistance, for whatever the cause, they need at least a fully licensed nurse or medical doctor to provide those services. If any of those services, like administering medications, requires a trained, fully licensed individual to do it, and somebody other than that performs the tasks, not only can it put the senior at risk, it is also a serious violation of the law.
How to find out if an assisted living facility provides direct nursing services?
Reach out and speak to an administrator at the assisted living facility directly. You can certainly learn a great deal about their services online with a quick search, but this is something you want to know for sure as your mother will need these services moving forward.
It can be a great relief to elderly men and women who have medical needs to know that direct nursing services are available at the assisted living facility they are considering for their future.
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