A senior member of your family has a dementia condition. You are quite concerned about his health, safety, and well-being, and are facing difficulty in assisting him in his activities of daily living. Therefore, you want to shift him to a place where he receives better care and support for his activities, health, safety, and well-being. Memory care facilities and assisted living facilities are two good options in this regard. Here, seniors with dementia receive care and assistance with their activities. They also care for maintaining their health, safety, and well-being. Knowing the key differences between the two is important. This will help you decide which one of them is ideal for your senior family member. Therefore, we at Star Capital are conducting a comprehensive comparison of assisted living vs memory care facilities.
Both assisted living and memory care facilities provide help with activities of daily living. They both provide individualized personal care for seniors who need help in leading an independent and graceful life. This assistance is related to various activities. These include taking and managing medications, feeding, and cleaning the house.
Memory care facilities provide specialized environments for people living with dementia. They also provide security and staff for them. Moreover, they offer memory care programs for seniors with dementia or those with memory loss.
Memory care facilities provide an extra level of care. They provide support for seniors with memory conditions and memory impairments. The key difference between memory care and assisted living facilities lies in the scope and depth of services they provide.
Here are the main differences between the services and facilities provided by assisted living centers and memory care facilities.
The staff of both assisted living and memory care communities excel at what they do. They have the right staff in adequate strength for assigned duties and tasks. They both have enrichment directors and therapists. The staff in both facilities are trained to help seniors lead independent lives as much as possible. They provide holiday activities to seniors and provide them with physical therapy. The staff at assisted living and memory care communities are experienced at supporting residents with their day-to-day tasks and activities of daily living (ADLs).
Memory care staff, however, are specially trained in administering dementia care and providing round-the-clock support. Moreover, they are trained to manage difficult behaviors resulting from dementia and provide compassionate support to the elderly. These include wandering and aggression. Memory care communities tend to have increasingly higher caregiver-to-resident ratios. This is important because it can take longer to provide care for activities of daily living. Seniors in memory care facilities usually need more support. They also need direct oversight for their safety and social engagement.
The staff at both assisted living and memory care accord top-notch importance to maintaining seniors’ health and happiness. The majority of assisted living communities offer these safety features.
Memory care facilities provide these additional security features.
The facility layouts in memory care facilities are designed for a particular purpose. This is to create a feeling of calm among seniors and reduce confusion among them.
The above-mentioned safety features can help seniors from different backgrounds reduce the chances of injuries. They also help lower the chances of aggression and anxiety throughout the day.
The amenities provided by both assisted living facilities and memory care centers play a significant role in ensuring seniors’ safety and satisfaction. The amenities they provide can vary from one community to the next. But the majority of assisted living and memory care facilities offer amenities for meals, recreation, and life enrichment.
Assisted living and memory care units tend to provide these amenities.
Most assisted living and memory care facilities allow seniors to bring pets with them. The company of pets provides them comfort and peace of mind.
Both assisted living and memory care centers organize events and provide entertainment to seniors. They organize them as per the designated days in the calendar. This helps provide an enriching living experience to the seniors. There is one point worth mentioning here. It is that memory care facilities offer activities that help seniors manage their memory loss and live better with it.
The majority of assisted living facility staff members organize certain activities and social occasions. They align with the hobbies and interests of seniors.
Here are some of these activities.
In comparison to activities that assisted living facilities organize, memory care facilities organize more structured activities. Their purpose is to achieve sensory stimulation and cultivate mindful engagement in seniors.
Memory care facilities offer various therapeutic activities.
Both assisted living and memory care staff organize various activities. Their purpose is to ensure seniors’ health, safety, and well-being.
Cost
Let’s now talk about the monthly costs that memory care and assisted living facilities charge to allow use of their facilities and amenities. Memory care centers tend to cost more than assisted living facilities. Therefore, caregivers at Star Capital suggest that families should send their seniors to an assisted living facility when their dementia condition is at the beginning stage. They can then shift them to a memory care facility as their condition progresses.
The cost of these two types of facilities depends on various factors.
There is one other criterion to break down the costs charged by memory care and assisted living facilities.
The memory care facilities tend to charge more than assisted living facilities. This is because they provide more help to the seniors. Moreover, they provide increasingly specialized care and services to them than what assisted living residents get.
This detailed memory care vs assisted living comparison helps you better understand the significant differences between these two options. This can help you decide the better option for your senior family member who is afflicted with dementia.
There is one other option that you can also consider for the safety and well-being of your senior family member. It is an intermediary option. Let’s know more about it.
This kind of senior dementia care facility has both memory care and assisted living centers in the same place. In some cases, transferring a senior with early-stage dementia from an assisted living facility to a memory care facility at another place can be very hard on them. The transfer can even trigger a big decline in their condition.
In such situations, memory care in an assisted living facility can be beneficial for such seniors with early-stage dementia. They can begin in an assisted living center and then transition to a memory care facility within the same institution. Therefore, they need not shift away completely from an assisted living facility at one place to a memory care facility at another location.
Transferring from assisted living to memory care within the same memory care assisted living center is less traumatic for a person living with dementia. They only have to change rooms or locations within the same community. They are already familiar with the staff. Moreover, they recognize the surroundings. There is intermingling among seniors during participation in activities and events. They can still see and meet their friends.
Both assisted living facilities and memory care centers have the necessary facilities and trained staff to care for seniors with dementia. But memory care centers provide specialized care and round-the-clock support for seniors. Moreover, they offer quick interventions to maintain seniors’ health, safety, and well-being. Therefore, you can choose one of these facilities for your elderly person. This choice depends on the dementia stage and the kind of care they require. Star Capital offers both assisted living facilities and memory care facilities for seniors with dementia. They are equipped with necessary amenities and well-trained and qualified caregivers and other staff. Therefore, you can rest assured about the health, well-being, and safety of your loved ones.
42220 Sweet Court
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Phone : 571-406-7827
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104 Marylin Street
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Phone : 843-572-7442
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Phone : 336-996-0772
CYPRESS MANOR
503 W Buncombe Street,
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Phone : 252-791-0002
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30 W Main Street,
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Phone : 203-756-1229
Waterbury Garden RCH
128 Cedar Ave,
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Phone : 475-306-6888
