In-home care gives the illusion of independence, but it may be just an illusion. On average, a senior citizen who has in-home care, is cared for during a four to six hour window by either a family member or Home Health Aide. A Home Health Aide is scheduled to come by the home either every few days or daily to help the senior with activities of daily life, like showering, dressing and having meals. Sometimes they help with light housekeeping or preparing a meal, but this is not required. Often these services are supplemented by meals on wheels, a family member or weekly nurse visits. The rest of the time, the senior stays at home, effectively homebound.
How Senior Living Communities Enhance Senior Living Experiences
Seniors who live in assisted living communities are able to be much more active in their daily lives and are able to enjoy much more vibrant robust social lives.
One big difference for seniors living in assisted living is that no matter how attached they may have been to their old house, most have to admit that they can move more freely and comfortably in their new apartment at the assisted living community. The apartments in senior communities come in many layouts, but one commonality is that they are all designed to provide more open space to move and have many more safeguards such as railing, handles, walk in showers and slip resistant surfaces to help prevent senior residents from falling.
You can rest assured that your loved one will be checked on every day, throughout the day and have someone readily available to help them with anything they may need. They will get to know the staff and develop friendships with aides that they see regularly. These types of friendships not only help to keep the senior’s spirits up, but they also serve to provide great insights for the rest of the care team.
It is also true that many seniors will stay cleaner and have better self care because they are more willing to ask the professional staff for help than they would be to ask a relative. Because seniors develop friendships with staff and other residents, they tend to care more about their day to day appearance and want to take care of it, even if it means asking for a little help. This is one of the reasons that Baxter has a full service hair and nail salon on campus!
Baxter makes sure that their residents enjoy all of the small joys in life. There are beautiful and comfortable communal areas for residents and guests alike. Food does not come in plastic wrapped boxes or TV trays, but instead hot nutritious meals are served three times daily, fresh and made to order. This is a matter of quality of life, not just quantity of days.
More than just activities of daily living and obvious necessities, life care services are about enhancing senior living experiences and creating a better quality of life. Senior communities provide all kinds of planned social and recreational activities to keep the residents engaged. These activities range from daily routine social activity, like coffee chat, walking club or morning stretch to more creative activities such as needle work, crafter’s corner or creative writing. There are even mini-events in house for the residents to get excited about such as Baxter sing along, bingo and card game night. Residents also get to celebrate holidays and birthdays together in fun and decorated communal areas!
One of the virtues of being in Alaska is the location itself. Located in the foothills of the Chugach Mountains, it is easy to take day trips to some of the most amazing, fun and diverse places. Recent bus trips have included places like wildlife centers, botanical gardens, museums and even a trip to O’Malley’s On The Green!
Your loved one will make new friends, have great experiences and continue to create new memories. These are all opportunities your loved one will miss out on with in-home care.
Memory Care and Enhanced Senior Living Experiences
Memory care has all of the advantages of assisted living but also includes skilled staff experienced with care for individuals with Alzhiemer’s or dementia. Residents are aided with care for chronic conditions, redirection and intuitive personalized memory care activities and programs. There are even special outings, enrichment activities and social events.
High Acuity Care and Enhanced Senior Living Experiences
High Acuity care is for residents who are not able to live as independently as those in assisted living. Enhanced senior living experiences are very important to these seniors because they lift moods and provide hope. These residents receive round the clock personal care and monitoring, but they also have access to the same types of activities that the assisted living residents have access to. This allows the seniors in acuity care to have many opportunities to make friends and have fun as well.
Respite Care
Respite care is a short term stay in assisted living or memory care. This gives our hero home caregivers the opportunity to take a break and attend to their own affairs. It also provides a kind of “vacation” for the senior being cared for. Respite care can be a great change of pace with an opportunity to meet new people and experience a new environment while the caregiver can completely relax knowing their loved one is in the best hands!
What About Expense?
When compared accurately to the normal cost of living, it doesn’t really cost any more to live in assisted living in Anchorage than it does to live anywhere else. In fact, if in-home care prices are added in, there is no comparison, it is actually cost effective for a senior to relocate to an assisted living community.
At Baxter Senior Living in Anchorage, the prices are all inclusive. To make a fair comparison make sure you include the cost of rent, food, utilities, outside help, and so on. At Baxter the singular cost includes rent, utilities, food, even wifi and cable!
In-home care can be very difficult for a lot of families. Sometimes it just isn’t adequate for your senior loved one. In-home care in Anchorage is expensive and can become ineffective over time as conditions change or progress. When your senior loved one is ready to take the next step, visit Baxter Senior Living in Anchorage and see what enhancing senior living experiences is all about!
