Once the caregiver and senior have come to the conclusion that living at home alone is no longer safe, the options need to be explored. The options available will depend on a number of factors including the mental and physical ability of the senior, the resources available, the geographic area that the senior lives in and the wishes of the senior and family. Each situation will be different and a mix of services may be necessary in many circumstances. No decision is made in stone and choices may need to change once executed. By including an expert in the process, you may improve the success of the selected option.
One of the most onerous challenges of safe senior living options is the concept of “aging in place”. That means that the senior and family select the initial safe option, but as time passes the senior’s physical or mental condition changes and alternate choices need to be made. This is less frequent when the senior is living in a nursing home because of the scope of services and licensed nursing staff available. Other than nursing homes, most of the other segments of the continuum of care do not typically have the professional services available around the clock. When these professional services are needed for the senior’s safety, the senior must be transferred. This can be a stressful time for the senior, the family and the facility.
The continuum of care can be delivered in the home or in an institutional setting. To make the situation more complex, different parts of the country have different kinds of service providers and have inconsistent titles of same or similar services. The following is a summary of the common types of services from the least to the most service intensive.