A lot of people are uncertain about what assisted living is, and have thoughts that it might involve putting our elder care into the hands of a nursing home. In most cases, however, this is simply not true, as the assisted living method is a great deal different than what a person tends to experience in a nursing home. While there are nursing homes that perform assisted living operations as well as the more traditional role of elder care that we are all familiar with, assisted living is different. The emphasis in a dedicated assisted living facility is a significant amount less dire, and is a great deal more positive than what a nursing home tends to be.
The major difference between an assisted living facility and a nursing home is not just that the care of our aging parents is emphasized a bit more in the latter than in the former. The fact that assisted living facilities are out to enable people who can generally fend for themselves is just one part of the fairly substantial difference between the nursing home experience and the assisted living one. While caring for our elders can take on both of these two forms, assisted living tends to emphasize how an aging adult can often still perform many of the basic functions that we all need to either perform for ourselves or have someone else perform for us, in order to live a healthy and functional life. Assisted living facilities also tend to foster a more social environment keep residents active.
The emphasis on a nursing home does have a sad tendency to be the last step before the rapid slide into death that occurs as one ages. While many people live essentially self sufficient lives right up until they fall into the "death bed" stage of life, many other people simply are not that hale and hearty. For these people, a nursing home tends to be the best way to go about those finals few months or years. And in a nursing home, younger, healthier people take care of those who are too old and sick to tend to their own basic needs. Activities such as reading, taking medicine, brushing one's teeth, bathing and dressing are often handled by these care giving individuals in this elder care role. Nursing homes provide a higher level of skilled nursing care than that of an assisted living facility.
Having greater individual autonomy to come and go more freely, and perform most of the basic functions of life is just one way that an assisted living facility is higher up on the scale than a nursing home is. If your aging loved one can pretty much take care of themselves, then an assisted living facility is a good choice. However, if they cannot take care of themselves and/or require medical attention then a skilled nursing home may have to be your option.
