An Assisted Living can be described like a ‘docked cruise’ ship with an apartment. It has it's own bathroom and kitchenette, dining services, weekly housekeeping, social activities, transportation, and access to care staff. Assisted Living apartments will commonly come in three sizes - a studio, one bedroom and two bedroom apartments. Residents can come and go as they want - it is not a locked community.
Both types of communities can provide assistance for dressing, showering, eating, mobility and medication management.
A Memory Care can be described more as ‘dorm living’, with rental of a bedroom and will have shared living space (often from 10-35 residents). Some memory care communities will have shared bedrooms and bathrooms. A Memory Care will supply all that an Assisted Living does but will have a smaller number of residents, will be on one floor only, and will have significantly higher staff ratios. The increased staff helps re-direct behaviors and walk a person through their day in more detail, step-by-step. The activities offered in a memory care will also be geared to allow for more success/simpler, as abilities decline. Memory Care will be locked, but family can visit anytime.
We sometimes hear from family “this Assisted Living is awful, they are not caring for my mom”. If memory issues are involved, at a certain point it may mean the Assisted Living is no longer appropriate for mom. The community she is in is not staffed to the level to care for someone who needs to be fully oriented to their day. Staffing ranges at all communities and types, but in general a 1-to-15 staff ratios occurs in Assisted Living and and 1-to-7 ratio occurs at a memory care.
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