Assisted Living, Dementia Care, Retirement Facilities and Home Care Defined

With so many different senior services available to choose from, we heard the need to offer a basic understanding of what Assisted Living, Alzheimer's care, retirement living and Home Care actually is and what can be expected. For those of you who are already looking at facilities, we highly recommend you request our FREE Assisted Living Communities Checklist. "Ask These 35 Questions To Ensure You're Choosing A Quality Senior Living Facility."


Assisted Living Defined: Assisted Living residences or assisted living facilities (ALFs) provide supervision or assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs); coordination of services by outside health care providers; and monitoring of resident activities to help to ensure their health, safety, and well-being. <more>

Cargiving and Dementia Defined: As populations age, caregiving and dementia become more common aspects of life. In most mild to medium cases of dementia the primary caregiver is a family member, usually a spouse or adult child. Over time more and more professional care in the form of nursing and other supportive care may be required, whether at home or in a long term care facility. <more>

Retirement Communities Defined: A retirement community, or active adult community, or senior independent apartments, is a very broad, generic term that covers many varieties of housing for retirees and seniors - especially designed or geared for people who no longer work, or restricted to those over a certain age. It differs from a retirement home which is a single building or small complex where no "common areas" for socializing exist. <more>