Assisted Living Shouldn ’t Mean Losing Independence
Photo credit Nashwin Vaswani
Dear Carol: My mom, 78, has some physical disabilities because of severe arthritis. Even so, she’s fully able to manage the two medications that she takes. She can also fix the simple meals that she enjoys and entertain herself with music, TV, and reading. She needs some assistance, but we’re skeptical of assisted living because her friend, also well able to take care of her immediate needs, got burned. This friend liked living in her apartment except that the facility mandated taking over her medications and that she attend a certain number of meals. Their rules made her angry and miserable. I understand that facilities have rules, but this seems inflexible. Mom’s always found being around a lot of people stressful. She needs help with showering as well as cleaning, but she won’t even try assisted living because of her friend’s experience. How do we help her stay safe but not take away her independence? – MS
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Source: Minding Our Elders - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
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