As mentioned before I take care of my senior mother and we are looking for housing options for her. I'll get to what we found about assisted living in a moment, or maybe next time, but I did come across some interesting sites with information. For example this one on senior care and this one from another person who takes care of a senior.
It seems that this is a growing topic among bloggers. Some of these sites have some interesting statistics on senior care and how it impacts both the senior and the person caring for them. Interesting that people tend to write a lot about senior housing options as well. I guess that finding the right housing is a major issue. That means we are not alone and that the time I have spent looking into housing options is doing the right thing.
Of course is also means that there are a lot of senior citizens out there and a lot of people who care for them who we are competing with for the right housing option. Once thing I have already noticed with the senior housing places we have looked at, and is probably true for assisted living also, is there is a long waiting list. As morbid as it seems, you are basically waiting for a senior to die or move to a nursing home so that you can get their spot in the senior housing complex or in the assisted living facility.
Since I am running on here, I guess I'll pick up on assisted living next time.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Senior housing options
As I mentioned in my last post, I am helping my elderly mother get into a better senior living situation. She lives one her own (with regular visits from friends and relatives) but she really needs something more suited to care for senior citizens.
We decided to break the options into groups: such as assisted living, senior housing, retirement homes/communities. Then we set down to find the pros and cons for each. (As a side note, these are starting to get listed on SeniorsNH.com - which has housing info for senior citizens and those who care for them in New Hampshire.
She does not need a nursing home, and from what I have seen of them I hope she never does. It is like warehousing from seniors and is very depressing. There is typically an over-worked, under trained staff of non-English speaking people responsible for large numbers of seniors in advanced stages of deteriorating health. These senior citizens who should be loved and cared for are instead treated like cattle much of the time. I'm sure there are nicer places, but the places I have visited are not places I would ever let a senior citizen that I cared for wind up in.
The next step down is assisted living facilities. Since I think this is going to be the answer for my mother I'll skip it and come back.
The next step is senior housing - basically apartments only for senior citizens, typically with some kind of social structure. There are some nice places here in Southern NH with some nice people we met. My mother liked them, and she feels that she would do well in an environment that is, as she puts it: of the Seniors, by the Seniors, and for the Seniors. My concern though is that this means she is really relying on the elderly man next door, or the lady down the hall for help. Since these people are all senior citizens too, it is not the best support group. I also don't think it is really fair. We're still considering the senior housing option though.
Next time more on senior communities and assisted living.
-J
We decided to break the options into groups: such as assisted living, senior housing, retirement homes/communities. Then we set down to find the pros and cons for each. (As a side note, these are starting to get listed on SeniorsNH.com - which has housing info for senior citizens and those who care for them in New Hampshire.
She does not need a nursing home, and from what I have seen of them I hope she never does. It is like warehousing from seniors and is very depressing. There is typically an over-worked, under trained staff of non-English speaking people responsible for large numbers of seniors in advanced stages of deteriorating health. These senior citizens who should be loved and cared for are instead treated like cattle much of the time. I'm sure there are nicer places, but the places I have visited are not places I would ever let a senior citizen that I cared for wind up in.
The next step down is assisted living facilities. Since I think this is going to be the answer for my mother I'll skip it and come back.
The next step is senior housing - basically apartments only for senior citizens, typically with some kind of social structure. There are some nice places here in Southern NH with some nice people we met. My mother liked them, and she feels that she would do well in an environment that is, as she puts it: of the Seniors, by the Seniors, and for the Seniors. My concern though is that this means she is really relying on the elderly man next door, or the lady down the hall for help. Since these people are all senior citizens too, it is not the best support group. I also don't think it is really fair. We're still considering the senior housing option though.
Next time more on senior communities and assisted living.
-J
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