Three Ways To Help Your Parent Settle In To Their New Assisted Living Community

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Moving into an assisted living facility can make life a lot easier for your elderly parent. But, while he or she will likely be happy to be rid of the burden of keeping up with a home, your parent may struggle to adapt to this new way of life in a new community. During your parent's first few weeks in the senior living facilities, there are some things you can do to help them settle in.

Attend community activities with them.

Most assisted living communities have organized activities that the residents can attend if they so choose. This could be anything from crafting sessions to live musical performances. Your parent might need a bit of a push to get out there and become involved in these activities at first. If you attend with them, this will help them feel more comfortable as they get used to attending and meeting others. (Check with the community manager before doing this -- most will welcome family members at community activities, but it's best to be sure.)

While you're at the community activities, talk to other residents who you meet and introduce your parent. Once your parent hits it off with one or two other residents, he or she will quickly be introduced to others.

Keep your visits on a regular schedule.

You want to encourage your parent to leave their apartment and seek out new relationships in the community. Thus, you have to strike a delicate balance between visiting them so they don't feel abandoned and spending so much time with them that they're not driven to seek out other companionship. A good way to manage this is to keep your visits on a regular schedule. This will prevent your parent from sitting around, waiting for you to visit.

Visiting two or three times per week is sufficient while your parent is settling in. After a few months, your parent will be more settled into the community and you can scale back your visits if needed.

Tell the staff about your parent.

The staff members want to make your parent feel welcome and more comfortable. The more they know about your parent, the easier time they'll have accomplishing this. When you visit your parent in their new home, stop by to meet the staff in the office. Tell them a bit more about your parent -- their interests, topics they like discussing, a bit about their history -- so they have some starting points when striking up conversations with your parent. This may also help the staff identify other residents who share your parent's interests so they can introduce them.

If you follow the tips above, your parent should feel welcome and at-home in their new assisted living community within a few short weeks.  

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11 March 2016

Recognizing Great Nursing Home Amenities

When I started looking for a care center for my mother, I decided that I needed to learn a little more about nursing home amenities. I wanted her to be in a safe, happy, fun place, but I didn't know what to look for. To make my search easier, I picked up a piece of paper and a pen and started calling different facilities. I made a list of all of the exciting, new features that places were offering, and then I showed the list to my mom. I let her decide where to stay and what she wanted to do. This blog is all about recognizing great nursing home amenities, so that you can keep the people that you love happy and content.