Assisted Living is a general term which is used to describe basic care for an individual usually an elderly person who needs assistance from a caregiver for 1 or more ADL or activity of daily living, assistance with coordination of services from outside doctors and health care providers, and monitoring of the seniors activity’s to ensure safety. An activity of daily living could be walking, eating, bathing, taking medication, changing clothes, or toileting. Assisted living can be administered in the senior’s home, in a residential care home for the elderly, or in a large retirement facility. There are various levels of care but assisted living usually refers to the level of care for seniors that do not need nursing home care which provides professional nursing care 24 hours a day 7 days a week and is more serious then basic ADL support. Assisted living usually provides 24 hour nonmedical caregivers and registered nurses or doctors visit the home once a week to do checkups.
There is not a standardized definition for assisted living besides the one laid out here and on other assisted living industry publications. Assisted Living is regulated on the state level and some states do not even have regulations in place. There is an effort currently to regulate assisted living on the federal level but for now it remains a state issue.
Assisted Living is also a common type of care for seniors who have some type of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease and many homes offer specialized care for Alzheimer’s patients.
AssistedLiving101.com Resources
