It can be confusing to try and unravel the complexities of senior living when you aren’t familiar with the vocabulary, so we just recently started a series of blogs designed to help interpret the senior living jargon that’s used right here in Cincinnati.

In our last post, we talked about the different senior living options that are available to older adults. Today, we’re explaining the different senior care and services that are available at the best senior living communities in Cincinnati.

Skilled Nursing Care

We’ve already talked a little about the short and long-term skilled nursing care options available at most senior living communities in Cincinnati that have taken the place of the traditional nursing home. But, with a number of changes on the horizon for senior healthcare services, there are a few points that could stand further exploration.

Rehabilitation

Because national reforms are cracking down on hospitals with high readmittance rates of Medicare patients, hospitals are more invested in ensuring that older adults don’t experience a relapse. Toward this end, senior healthcare providers have begun working closely with skilled nursing care providers to create recovery programs that help seniors transition home safely after a hospital stay.

With this strengthened connection to senior healthcare providers, skilled nursing programs are becoming even more proficient in offering rehabilitation for the common ailments and injuries of seniors:

• Fall related injures like broken bones (especially fractures of the skull or femur), spinal damage, and traumatic brain damage
• Major surgeries like joint replacements, organ transplants, or other invasive procedures
• Chronic conditions like Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Muscular Dystrophy, and severe arthritis
• Traumatic events like heart attacks or strokes

Senior living communities have still retained their caretaking programs for permanent residents, but have begun to see much higher occupancy for short-term care.

Memory Support

If you’ve ever been the caretaker of a loved one living with Alzheimer’s or dementia, you know that providing the care they need becomes more difficult as time goes on. The progression of the condition brings an intensification of symptoms and a steady decline in independence.

Memory care services, sometimes called Alzheimer’s or dementia care, at a senior living community are designed to provide around-the-clock care for older adults at all stages of progression.

1. Adult Day Care provides support and resources for family who provide care at home.

This daytime care service, offers attention from skilled professionals and the chance for companionship on equal footing.

In addition to providing necessary care, the program gives participants the opportunity to socialize without feeling stressed. Carefully planned activities allow older adults to spend time with peers who are also affected by Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in a secure environment.

2. Respite Care provides another form of temporary care for older adults still living at home.

Should personal or professional obligations take a caregiver away from home, respite programs offer full-time care at a senior living community on a short-term basis. In these programs, older adults are able to socialize with their peers in a safe environment and participate in activities designed to stimulate mind and body while receiving the daily care they need.

3. Assisted Care provides supervision and assistance for older adults who need limited care, once they make the move to a senior living community.

Care at this level offers daily assistance from qualified staff members who are on-duty 24-hours a day, the companionship of other older adults who share their condition, and a number of stimulating activities that are designed with the specific needs of memory care in mind.

4. Skilled Nursing Care provides residents with more intensive full-time care beyond what is provided by assisted living programs.

Once Alzheimer’s or dementia has become advanced, skilled nursing care ensures the health and safety of residents by offering full-time monitoring and a secure environment that prevents residents from wandering off the premises unescorted.