keeping the peace during a nursing home transition

Assisted living is one of many different options available for seniors. Because of that, it's often difficult to tell which option will work best. How can you tell if assisted living is a better choice than a nursing home or in-home care? Here are a few things to consider.

What Do You Need?

Assisted living is very much what it sounds like. It's senior living, but with assistance. If you're completely independent, then assistance may not be a necessity. But what is assistance? It's not cut and dry like many may think. Assistance comes in various forms.

Can Your Family Help You?

Your family wants to help care for you. They do the best they can. Unfortunately, even their best hopes aren't always enough. Not only that, but their efforts can slowly become stressful for both you and them. It's hard for them to provide care for you when they also have to deal with day-to-day life.

An assisted living facility can provide someone to help you with your daily activities. It can provide a caretaker, even if you only need a little help each day.

Are You Alone?

There are two things to consider here. If you live alone or have few visitors, then it can become dangerous for you to stay where you are. Having someone around, or someone to check on you every now and then, can help prevent accidents and keep you alert.

The second thing is that staying alone can lead to depression or loneliness. Assisted living can help with both sides of this issue. Since there is a staff, someone will always be on hand to help you should you need it. That goes for your daily care as well as for emergencies.

Assisted living facilities are community-based. You will have a social life and others you can spend time with and around should you choose.

Can You Get Around?

Mobility is a main concern, and it exists on many levels. For example, if you have trouble physically moving around then having help nearby can help.

In addition, if you have trouble performing physical activities, assistance can represent the best thing for you. Beyond even that comes travel concerns. Can you drive? Can you make it to a supermarket and bring groceries back with no issues?

Issues of mobility aren't a concern in an assisted living community. You won't have to put the burden on family members, and you won't have to spend additional funds paying a service to drive you or make deliveries for you.

Help When You Need It

In general, if you need a little help occasionally, then an assisted living facility is the best choice in most cases. It's not for those that require constant care or those with regular skilled nursing requirements. With assisted living, you will have help when you need it, and independence when you don't.