This recent article in the Northwest Herald hits the nail on the head. Moving into an assisted living community can be a difficult experience for many reasons, but the loss of independence is often the primary one.
Highlights from the piece include:
“A lot of folks don’t want to leave their home, so we’re an excellent transition to help people realize that getting help is not bad,” he said.
Those seniors who do need the full-time care of a nursing facility might be wary of the change at first, Nzeribe said.
“But the good news is that after the initial resistance, when they are finally in the correct place, they realize, ‘Gee, I should have done this much sooner,’ ” he said.
It’s also important to remember that getting professional care isn’t just helpful for the senior, it also can help family members trying to do the job alone.
“There is caregiver burnout,” Nzeribe said. “You will end up not doing a good job. You end up blaming yourself. … So if we can avoid that, then we should.”
From our own experience in the field, we have found that Connected Living is an effective way to encourage independence and can mitigate the difficult transition seniors face. Through our web-based portal seniors have the ability to learn how to use a computer, how to surf the internet, stay in touch with family and friends through a secure email and photo sharing system, and have the ability to work on their memoirs.
