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Southampton, MA 01073
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at Wiscasset is underway, with plans to open in Spring of 2025.
Navigating the variety of options for care for an older adult family member can quickly become confusing. Many different names are used to describe the various types of older adult care facilities. In reality, there are just two primary types of elder care: nursing home and assisted living community. Understanding the differences between nursing home and assisted living can make the process of choosing elder care less stressful and more reassuring for all involved.
A nursing home, also known as a skilled nursing facility (SNF), is permitted to provide extensive nursing and medical, under the supervision of a practicing physician. Nursing homes are equipped to perform near-constant monitoring of individuals who require extensive care due to physical disability, cognitive impairment, and/or unstable chronic health conditions. Depending on the degree of severity and prognosis for recovery, a person’s length of stay at a nursing home can be a short-term (several weeks) or long-term (months or years). For the latter, the nursing home may be referred to as a long-term care (LTC) facility.
Another important distinction is that a nursing home is a custodial arrangement in which the medical staff are the custodians of care for the older adult. In a custodial arrangement, the room to which your loved one is assigned is not their private dwelling. Because nursing homes follow a medical model of custodial care, medical staff and other personnel may enter the room at any time.
Nursing homes provide meals according to medical needs. They may have visitation hours similar to a hospital. Limited social and recreational programs, if any, are provided at a nursing home.
An assisted living community (facility or center) is a term used for a category of elder care known as Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC). Other terms used for CCRC include senior living community and life care communities. These communities are licensed to offer different levels of healthcare and wellness care to support the needs of older adults as their needs change over time, including their physical, medical, social and emotional, and spiritual needs.
Assisted living centers do not employ a custodial arrangement. Rather, the older adult’s dwelling (usually an apartment style set-up) is considered a private residence. Also, assisted living communities embrace a social model, with a focus on preserving well-being and maintaining the older adult’s independence. Assisted living communities uphold a resident’s right to personal privacy, autonomy, and dignity while promoting community and family involvement.
As part of a CCRC, assisted living may be a step within a senior living community that offers a transitional living pathway based on needs. As such, an older adult enters the community as an active and independent resident who needs minimal assistance, but should their health decline in a way that prevents truly independent living, the community provides a transition to stepped-up care. This can include receiving help with daily living activities, physical rehabilitation and adaptations in their same living space—or transitioning to more medically intensive long-term care services such as Memory Care or skilled nursing (with appropriate permits as required by law).
What Type of Care Does a Nursing Home Provide?
Nursing homes, also called skilled nursing facilities (SNF), focus on healthcare and personal care for residents. Primarily, though, nursing home services focus on medical care including:
Some older adults will stay at a nursing home for a short time after being in the hospital. After they recover, they go home. However, most nursing home residents live there permanently because they have ongoing physical or mental conditions that require constant care and supervision.
What Type of Care Does Assisted Living Provide?
Assisted living facilities can be transformative environments for aging adults. With a focus on wellbeing, supporting independence, and expanding social engagement, older adults residing in assisted living communities can forge new friendships with people their age, discover new hobbies, become more active, preserve cognitive function, and enjoy amenities that would be harder for them to access if they remained in a traditional home or in the care of a family member.
All residents who reside within an assisted living community are considered independent to the extent that they are capable of participating in or at least partially maintaining their basic daily activity needs within their private living quarters. The extent of assistance needed is a determining factor in cost to reside at an assisted living community.
Other daily services that assisted living provides – if and when needed by a resident can include:
As an assisted living “continuum of care” community, Everbrook Senior Living offers a wide variety of services, amenities, and living options to help older adult residents remain independent and thriving for as long as possible.
To sum it all up, nursing homes focus on medical care—from short-term rehab to long-term ongoing medical care. Assisted living is focused on supporting the wellness needs of older adult residents for the duration of their “golden years”.
Does My Elderly Family Member Need Nursing Home Care or Assisted Living?
Deciding if an elderly family member is better served by nursing home care or assisted living is a complex process. Foremost, this decision will be determined by your elderly family member’s medical needs and the extent to which you can provide what they need for the person to remain at home. Other factors will include the extent of their physical or cognitive impairment, medication management, and prognosis. You’ll also want to consider if their condition is likely to worsen over time, which means the care they need now will change in months or years.
Even an older adult who is mostly independent in their self-care, today, will encounter times when their healthcare needs become too extensive for living on their own, even within an assisted living community. This is why you want to choose an older adult community like Everbrook Senior Living, which provides transitional care to support your loved one as their health and wellbeing changes over time. It is much less stressful and easier for an older adult to adapt to changes in continuum of care when it is provided within the same residential setting than to have to move from one facility to another as level of care changes.
Resources
CT Assisted Living Association Resource Guide
https://everbrookseniorliving.com/images/forms/CALA-Consumer-Guide.pdf
Everbrook’s FAQs (again they reference CT in many of these responses so not sure about other states)
https://everbrookseniorliving.com/resources/frequently-asked-questions
Assited Living at Everbrook Communities
Assited Living v. Nursing Home: How do they Differ? https://www.healthline.com/health/assisted-living-vs-nursing-home
Residential Facilities, Assisted Living, and Nursing Homes https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/residential-facilities-assisted-living-and-nursing-homes
Helpful Guidance for Managing Older Adult Long-Term Care
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
800-633-4227
877-486-2048 (TTY)
800-677-1116
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202-872-0888
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You can also call your local Area Agency on Aging or Department of Human Services.
Talking to a teen about a family member diagnosed with dementia can be incredibly difficult for caregivers. The approach taken when you have this conversation can help your teen cope effectively with the news and empower them to preserve a meaningful connection with their loved one.
When to Tell a Teen About a Loved One Diagnosed with Dementia
For most teens, the family member with dementia will be a grandparent or older family member, but for some it may be a parent. Even if, at some level, a teen had some awareness that the diagnosis was coming, hearing it spoken aloud is a hard-hitting reality. It’s imperative to have the conversation as soon as possible after a diagnosis of dementia is confirmed, so that your teen does not find out “accidentally” from someone else in (or outside) the family; this would compound stress for all and may feel like a breach of trust to the teen.
Beginning the Conversation about Dementia with Your Teen
Be prepared for the fact that your teen will experience a jumble of emotions from shock and anger to grief and even shame. Many teens feel they can’t talk to their peers about such devastating news. It’s also not uncommon for them to feel like they can’t go to other adults in the family whom they may see as struggling to cope with their own emotions while trying to plan for the family member’s medical care.
First, plan ahead for when and where you will have the conversation. If at all possible, avoid having the conversation with your teen when they’ve had a lousy day at school, work, or practice. Give them some space at home to recover from their day and then invite them to sit down for a chat.
Second, manage your own emotions. Begin the conversation about a family member with dementia when you feel as centered as possible. Your teen will need your guidance and support; they should not feel like they have to support you. You want to create a safe space for them to experience whatever emotions come-up for them.
Third, be prepared to provide support. Make sure you have resources ready to share with your teen, should they need them. Of course, they can lean on you; also, be able to recommend other family members, community resources, or support groups. The teen probably won’t want this at that very moment, but you can tell them you have these resources ready for them, should they be interested.
What to Say to a Teen about a Loved One with Dementia
When you do speak share the news with your teen, be honest and open from the start. If a rapid decline is expected, let them know this. Be forthcoming with whatever knowledge you have about the family member’s diagnosis. And, remember:
Some teens will understand more about dementia than others. They may dive into researching information to better understand how their loved one will be affected. Others may not want to know any details about the diagnosis. These are both coping strategies. For most teens, it may be helpful to have a family meeting with the medical providers or medial support staff who can answer questions and provide more specific advice to help you teen cope.
What Can Your Teen Do Once They Learn of a Family Member with Dementia?
In the days and weeks that follow the news about a family member having a diagnosis of dementia, your teen may wonder how they should act around this person. What should they—or shouldn’t they—say or do?
Teens often will be concerned about how their own behavior may affect the family member with dementia. Additionally, the teen will be concerned about the safety and quality of life of the family member with dementia. This is a lot for a teen to think about on top of all the usual excitement and stress that comes with being a young person on the verge of adulthood.
Help Teens Stay Connected with a Family Member with Dementia
There are quite a few things that your teen can do to help them maintain meaningful interaction with their loved one who has dementia include:
If the teen does not live near the family member, these approaches can help them maintain connection:
There are many other activities that a person with dementia can continue, depending upon the degree to which the illness is affecting them. Be sure to check with your family member’s medical support team for specific suggestions.
As you and your teen navigate the care of a family member with dementia, encourage your teen to talk or journal about their experiences and emotions. When necessary, meet with a grief counselor as a family. And remember, as you demonstrate healthy emotions and model ways of maintaining connection, you will help your teen work through their own concerns and feelings about how dementia will affect their loved one.
Everbrook Senior Living Helps Families Cope with a Dementia Diagnosis
When it comes to the support a family needs to cope with dementia diagnosis, the staff at Everbrook Senior Living go above and beyond to provide resources and support for all. We, too, are son and daughters, nieces and nephews, of person’s who have been placed in long term care due to dementia. We are available and approachable – often giving out our cell phone numbers as we help families navigate challenges that come with declining health due to dementia. You can trust in our healthcare experience; you can count on our compassion. Learn more about our Memory Care services and our EGIS program.
Resources
Parent Guide to Helping Children and Teens Understand Alzheimer’s Disease
https://www.alz.org/documents/national/brochure_childrenteens.pdf
Alzheimer Society. Helping Teens Understand Dementia
When a Friend or Family Member Has Dementia: Resources for Kids and Teens
This month in Gym Talk we will be focusing on brain health. When most people think of exercise and physical activity they think of building strength, improving balance and flexibility, or going for a walk. However, exercising the mind is just as important as exercising the body. The mind needs to be challenged daily in order to keep the brain working to the best of its ability for as long as possible.
As we age, maintaining a sharp mind is a top priority. Activities you do to improve your body also benefit your brain. Exercise can increase the blood flow and oxygen to your brain as well as help your brain grow new neuronal connections. Mentally stimulating activities for your brain are just as important. Brain games help individuals to stay focused on the task at hand, remember instructions and improve our working memory so we have the skill to remember and use relevant information while performing an activity. Try participating in arts and crafts, do word puzzles and logic games, work on a jigsaw puzzle, attempt a sudoku puzzle or trivia game to help exercise your mind.
Try a few tasks that target memory and attention:
There are many ways to exercise the mind through brain games and activities. Try the game below for fun! Say aloud what color you see in every word, NOT the word you read as quick as possible. Go from left to right, from top to bottom.
Ready. Set. Go!
Posted in the Senior Care Topics Series by Everbrook Senior Living
Seniors reading or watching the news are informed that Medicare, through its parent agency, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, CMS, is now covering some essential non-medical services such as in-home care, transportation, and soon phone consultations with the doctor. In brief, Medicare following passage of the CHRONIC Care Act of 2017 and through reinterpretation of its own rules, has empowered only Medicare Advantage Plans, “MA”, to offer a broader array of supplemental benefits including vision/hearing screens to name a few and now non-skilled home-health to beneficiaries who demonstrate a medical need for such services. A supplemental benefit under Medicare is defined as:
Although seen universally as a positive step toward the continuing trend to reform coverage rules so medical providers can be paid to treat longer term chronic illness, in reality, seniors in need of home-health aides to support disabilities or who hope to talk to their doctor over the phone instead of having to travel their office will likely have to wait several years to receive those benefits in manners which make real improvements to their quality of health and life. Yet, for seniors with complex chronic illness which includes many senior living residents, MA plans appear to be the best option to get the most comprehensive coverage including essential supplemental benefits not available in traditional Medicare like in-home care or telehealth benefits, although with some uncertainties to work through. Medicare Part D amendments and other payment models being tried at CMS are not discussed here.
