The decision to transfer a loved one to assisted living home care is a difficult decision to make. When we’re young and our parents were in their prime, we always thought that they would be vital and strong for the rest of your life! Of course, as you and your parents age, you come to the stark realization of the passage of time and know that everyone, no matter how vital and strong they were in their younger years, will eventually slow down a step or two as they get older. It’s the unfortunate certainty that we all eventually experience in our lives.
But when is the right time to make that decision? No two people will have the same prerequisites and milestones when trying to come to a consensus on what time is the right time. Any advice or thoughts that are given on the subject may work for some, but they may not fit your situation. What you can do is take heed of some general guidelines that can be followed in reaching a decision on this very difficult subject.
Obviously, the first tell would be how your loved ones are getting along by themselves. Do they need help from time to time? Are they struggling with normal day-to-day activities? Lawn care? House upkeep? Laundry? Cooking? Personal Hygeine? All of these are some general attributes that you need to pay attention to while visiting them. Secondly, are they exhibiting any signs of forgetfulness? All of our memories will fade a little with time, that happens to everyone when they age. But if they’re forgetting things that happened earlier that day or things that have happened in the last couple of days, it’s a sign that you need to keep an eye on. Especially so if it’s little things, like making out a grocery list and forgetting you have it on you or forgetting where you put it. That can happen once in a while, but if it’s happening with alarming frequency, then that could be a harbinger of forgetting major things like medication dosages and taking your medicines later on.
Coming to a decision on a loved one to transfer them to assisted living home care is very difficult. But when you do come to that consensus, look for an assisted living care facility with a track record. Look for facilities of the highest quality of care, one with a dedicated staff who takes care of their patients with love and care. Also, look for a facility that strives not only to take care of their residents’ health-wise, but mentally as well with exercise and outside activities to engage them in physical activity.
