It’s hard to watch our loved ones grow older and slow down physically and mentally. While many changes are a normal part of the aging process, others are serious and can put your mom or dad in danger. You need to pay close attention to signs of decline and, if necessary, acknowledge that this might be the time for a move to an assisted living community.
Focus on this simple question: Is my loved one a risk to themselves or others? As you try to answer this question, it helps to follow the standard used by most doctors, social workers, and geriatric care managers. It’s known as the activities of daily living, or ADL. These common activities are divided into two categories: basic and complex.
List of Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
Basic:
- Ability to feed oneself
- Ability to use the bathroom appropriately
- Ability to maintain good personal hygiene
- Ability to dress appropriately for the season
Complex:
- Cooking
- Shopping
- Effective communication
- Following directions
- Taking medications correctly
- Money management
If your loved one is having difficulties with one or more of these tasks, then consider them to be in a state of functional decline. This could be due to illness or injury, or it might indicate some cognitive deficits. Regardless, you have to consider your loved one’s safety and the safety of those they may encounter, for example, while driving to the grocery store.
Consider whether your loved one is exhibiting any of these symptoms of functional decline:
- Misusing medication (taking the wrong dosage, mixing up medications, deviating from schedule)
- Poor personal care (stains on clothing, inappropriate clothing choices, body odor, dietary changes, lack of fresh food in refrigerator)
- Financial difficulties (unpaid bills, changes in spending patterns, unusual charity donations)
- Communication problems (repetitive questioning, verbal confusion or stammering, inexplicable or inappropriate comments to neighbors or family)
- Functional challenges (forgetting how to use simple tools or appliances, getting lost while driving, spoiled or poorly-cooked food)
- Sensory changes (vision loss or diminished hearing that impacts ability to safely drive, read medication labels, see traffic signs, hear phone calls or smoke alarms)
- Frequent falls (unexplained cuts and bruises or explanations for these injuries that seem implausible; resistance to leaving the home; hesitant or unsteady gait)
If your analysis leads you to conclude that your loved one may require assisted living, take solace in the knowledge that there are many good senior care communities that can offer your mom or dad a high quality of life as well as a safe living environment.
How did you know when it was time to move your loved one into assisted living?
Are you looking for some peace of mind to ensure your loved one is safe in assisted living?
The best assisted living communities have many programming, safety and accomodation components. Learn how we’ve combined these to bring the latest in senior care programming to our communities.