Learn More About Senior Living Amenities and Services

A 24 hour staff includes at least one or two qualified care takers or nurses ready to help residents no matter what time of the day or night it is. The care given if requested or needed should be of the same quality and standards at night time as long it does not interfere with the rest of other residents.

Diabetes is a disease which requires unique care and is very common among people of all ages. Facilities, homes, and communities that offer Diabetic care are able to provide medical therapy, and healthy lifestyle choices with plenty of exercise and activities to minimize the effects of the disease and improve quality of life. Facility staff are also skilled in diabetic medicine, blood sugar testing and insulin.

Hospice Care aims to treat sick residents in the final phases of a terminal disease using various treatment methods to minimize and control pain while increasing quality of life. These treatment methods can be mild or very aggressive depending on the disease and pain the patient is suffering from. Since hospice care can be tough on the patient, facility staff should be able to offer social, emotional, and spiritual support as part of the treatment for the patients well being.

Physical therapy aims to to cure, treat, and maintain pain while improving physical health, muscle gains, deformities, posture, energy. Qualified Physical Therapists will examine your symptoms, body, and life style before deciding the right level of therapy for you. Physical Therapy has been proven to be very effective in treating and coping with health issues and diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis, chronic inflammation, Degenerative disc disease, muscular dystrophy, whiplash, depression, Lymphedema, vertigo, multiple sclerosis, weight gain, and many more. A great therapist should have experience in dealing will all kinds of issues to best decide a treatment plan for you.

Aquatic therapy is a wonderful treatment using a heated therapeutic pool for a great deal of diseases and medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, chronic inflammation, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, strokes, mild depression, and obesity. Participants in this type of therapy will achieve benefits such as improved stamina throughout the day, greater balance and coordination, muscle maintenance, increased circulation, reduced joint pain, positive physical gains, and less stress physically and mentally.

Many seniors will sooner or later have issues with their bladder and bowel movements, some more serious than others. Ostomy and Catheter care requires knowledge and understanding of all kinds of Ostomy types such as Colostomy, Temporary Colostomy, Permanent Colostomy, Sigmoid or Descending Colostomy, Loop Colostomy, Ileostomy, Continent Ileostomy, Urostomy, Ascending Colostomy and more. To fully be able to care for a patient that underwent Ostomy surgery the caregiver/nurse must understand the basics of the procedures and how bodily waste is re-routed in your body for different types of Ostomy. There are also a ton of different pouching systems so nurses must learn how to easily handle them all and be properly prepared when the situation arises. Some popular poaches include Colostomy and Ileostomy Pouches, Two-Piece Systems, One-Piece Systems, Irrigation Systems, and Urinary Pouching Systems. Another situation nurses will encounter are Accessories, they can make living with bladder and bowel conditions much easier for anyone, they include Convex Inserts, Ostomy Belts, Pouch Covers, Skin Barrier Liquid/Wipes/Powder, Skin Barrier Paste, Tapes, and Adhesive Remover. Caring for someone with bowel and bladder conditions requires a very professional approach as body image and self-esteem concerns are very common for those dealing with such conditions.

Communities that cater to patients/residents with memory diseases and issue must adhere to a ton of protocol and safety standards set by the state. Memory care involves caring for individuals with progressive disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, or Huntington’s Disease and immediate disorders that can be brought on by a car crash or a traumatic head injury. Nurses caring for any such disorder must understand the specific disease they are caring for so the proper approaches can be taken in administering care. Memory care facilities generally contain secure memory unites, specialists dealing in behavioral issues, and wander guards for the optimum level of safety and security.

Certain patients/residents will require someone to manage the drugs they are taking and when they should be taking them but this is only the very basic part of Medicine Management. A very knowledgeable nurse/pharmacist will be able to improve an individual’s health, minimize side effects, and minimize dosage simply by administering medicine correctly and prescribing only the proper medicine to begin with. The specialist will then observe his patients and make sure everything is going well and if a change in prescription is in order.

Having a doctor on call is great stress and worry relief for both residents and their loved ones in case of emergency. Top of the line facilities will have a doctor ready to treat or diagnose residents when time is crucial whether the doctor is on duty or not. Facilities and communities with hospitals close by can be an important part of selecting the right home for you or your loved ones.

Memory care units go hand in hand with care that caters to patients with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other memory problems. These memory diseases and conditions require a highly trained staff and units with a layout that can keep a patient safe and comfortable with their surroundings while allowing the staff to make sure they’re are doing alright in the environment at any time.

Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other memory conditions give rise to hard to deal with behavior issues at times. Facilities and communities have must have nurses and care takers trained to deal with these behavioral problems when they arise with peaceful and helpful tactics. Staff should be able to handle situations such as wandering, hallucinations, aggressiveness, panics, eating difficulties, and sleep problems by learning what makes the patient act in this manner and employ strategies to calm, manage stress, modify, minimize, or better accommodate the problem behaviors.

Facilities that adhere to patients with memory issues such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other memory or mental issues invest in RFid tracking applications to prevent patients at risk from wandering unaccompanied in dangerous situations. The active RFid tracks the patient either with a wrist or ankle band and sophisticated safety measures are taken by locking doors and windows as alarms alert the staff if the patient steps anywhere outside the safe zones while not accompanied by an authorized staff member or family.

Wheelchair or Handicap accessible facilities and communities must accommodate residents in wheelchairs in areas important to a comfortable and stress free daily life such ramps near stairs, showers, bathtubs, entrances, exits, and outdoor patios or gardens. Some residents might require higher measures of accessible care than others with easy ways of getting in/out of bed and car seats, and on/off the bathroom toilet seat.

Most, if not all facilities and communities these days offer transportation of some sort. Usually you set a price when negotiating or signing a contract though some include free transportation with the package you choose. Transportation can mean driving a resident to medical appointments, grocery stores, pharmacies, parks, walking trails, family, shopping centers, barber shops and more. It’s up to you and the facility to decide the limits and means of transportation you require. The most flexible facilities with transportation are usually board and care homes since they do care on a much more personal level but you should have no problem finding assisted living facilities, nursing homes, or independent living facilities that are very flexible with transportation.

Parking can be an important part of your search for a senior living home or it can not matter much at all. Most facilities and communities have some sort of parking arrangement for free or paid. The price for private parking is usually very low as an extra amenity and adds more comfort to you daily life if you drive a car or have frequent visits from family and friends. Senior Apartments and Independent living retirement communities will almost always have parking spaces available for you and board and care homes will at the very least have garage, front yard, or street parking.

Facilities and communities with outdoor patios, backyards, front yards, balconies, or gardens will usually have a smoking policy that allows residents to smoke in these restricted areas as long as it doesn’t interfere with the health and air of other residents in the near by area. If you are completely against smoking, you will find many senior living homes have a no smoking policy as well.

Semi-Private Units are offered by most facilities as a way to keep the cost of living down for those who can’t afford to pay more for a living space but need a certain level of care provided by the senior living option. Units must be at least 80 square feet for each resident of the semi-private bedroom exclusive of the spaced required for wardrobes, closets, and bathrooms. Most semi-private bedrooms are split between two residents but some facilities have much larger rooms that can be split among more though some senior living options like Assisted Living restrict a private unit to only 2 residents by law.

Private Units are your own personal bedroom in a facility. These may or may not include a private bathroom depending on the facility and your care type choice. Units must be at least 100 square feet not including the space required for wardrobes, closets, and possibly bathrooms.

Studio apartments combine your bedroom, living room, and kitchen into a single efficient room. Also known as flats or bachelor apartments, these studios include a bathroom, closet, wardrobe, and sometimes a balcony. Perfect for residents looking for something simple and small, though there are some facilities with medium to large sized luxury studio apartments.

Bedroom Apartments usually consist of 1 to 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, dining room, and bathroom. The living room and dining room may or may not be a specification but is often included in the kitchen area. Amenities differ greatly in all senior living options and facilities but some you’ll find frequently include a washer and dryer, refrigerators, ovens, garbage disposals, Air conditioning, heater, patios, balconies, and safety measures such as a fire extinguisher, smoke detector, and carbon monoxide detector.

We list facilities and communities that hire staff with skills to speak various languages as well as they speak English. Senior Living Staff speaking languages such as Spanish, Filipino, Russian, German, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Polish will help residents with little knowledge of the English language feel more at home and communicate their needs and wants much easier. Some facilities will even help these residents learn the English language while giving care, assistance, and company.

Everyone has a different preference for their diet and nutrition plans and most facilities understand that which various vegetarian options for you to choose from. Total Vegan diets only include foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, seeds and nuts while the more lenient lactovegetarian diet includes cheese and other dairy products and the Ovo-lactovegetarian diet also includes eggs.

The Jewish faith has a few rules and regulations as to what foods are acceptable for Jews to eat. These restrictions include some birds such as eagles, owls, pelicans, and vultures, any animals that do not have cloven hooves and chew cud, dairy products that do not come from Kosher animals, combining meat and milk, eggs containing blood, fish without fins and scales, fruits from trees planted in the past 3 years, and gelatin, casein, and bull in the wine making process.

Many elderly people could never dream of abandoning their pets to move into a facility so most senior living facilities have adopted a pretty lenient pet policy as long your don’t own a lion and are looking to move into a private room or apartment.

Seniors that love their animals and are having a hard time taking care of them, now have the option for Pet Care at many senior living facilities. Pet care will usually cost extra if it’s not part of your package deal and consists of feeding, walking, veterinarian trips, bathing, nail clipping, and brushing your beloved pets.

If religion is important to you and would like be around those who share the same faith as you, you’ll be glad to know there are many senior living care facilities providing care, values, faith, and an environment based around your beliefs. We list facilities and communities for all kinds of religious people such as Christians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists, & 7th Day Adventists.