The traveling group of high school musicians could not believe the difference in the accommodations between the different care centers they had visited. While playing holiday music to elderly audiences during the day, the group of instrumentalists had visited a variety of care centers, including some that had assisted living apartments, as well as some that were more standard nursing homes. In addition, they also played in the homes of two different people who received care in their own houses.
Even though many of them had aging grandparents themselves, the students had not considered the difference in care options and the difference in facilities in senior living options. What followed was a discussion about the budgets and long term care plans that would allow someone to live in these different settings. Every young musician agreed that there were obvious benefits to staying in assisted living apartments if at all possible. It is likely that some of those students went home and had interesting conversations with their own parents about long term care plans for their grandparents.
The fact of the matter is, if families wait until they are faced with the decision to move an elder home member out of their own home, they will likely be scrambling to find the best options. In the case of dementia long term care facilities, for example, rooms are often snatched up as soon as they become available.
In a frightening study conducted by Genworth Financial, 55% of the aging population reported that their greatest fear about growing older was not the fear of death. Sadly, these older citizens were five times more likely to be concerned about being a family burden than they were about death itself. What a devastating statement about the aging Americans in our society.
The fact is, many assisted living apartments are both affordable and available to residents who fear the eventual need for memory care assisted living options. If families take the time to realize that nearly 33% of seniors die with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, they may realize the importance of looking at options sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease is the only one of the top 10 cause of death in America that cannot be prevented. In almost all cases it also can not be slowed or cured. Early detection of dementia symptoms can be an opportunity for families to address the options for assisted living apartments that have the additional options of moving to a room with more services within the same system.
Are you going to wait for the remote chance that your teenage son or daughter will accidentally happen upon the topic of elderly care as part of a church community project of bringing holiday music to aging residents? Or, are you going to approach the topic in a more proactive way?
