Pros and Cons of Assisted Living

Assisted living. To many seniors, this sounds like a terrifying idea. Most would much prefer to age in their own home. And yet, assisted living often isn’t as bad as it sounds. There are plenty of pros and cons of assisted living, which can strongly influence your experience.

In fact, many people find that assisted living gives them a second lease on life.

After all, they’re living in an environment with plenty of support on hand. This gives seniors the freedom to enjoy life more and to focus on the good parts, rather than trying to do everything.

So, then let’s examine the benefits of assisted living and assisted living might aid the elderly in keeping or regaining their independence. We’ll also talk about the challenges, as there are always some.

If you’re interested in other options, check out our post called Where Will You Live When You Retire? In it we highlight a wide range of living options, how they differ from each other, and why you might choose one over another.

What is Assisted Living?

Before we get into the pros and cons of assisted living, let’s start with the basics.

Assisted living is an environment where you are receiving extra support. This can include personal care, health services, and a variety of activities.

Exactly what is provided will vary depending on your needs and the facility in question. Key examples include:

• Medication management
• Laundry
• Transportation
• Meal preparation
• Personal care, like dressing and bathing
• Activities for social connection and recreation

Assisted living communities focus on daily support rather than medical care. They’re generally unable to deal with complex medical needs or seniors who require ongoing monitoring.

Facilities differ from one another, so there’s variation in the specific services provided. Some places even provide a decent amount of medical support. Such differences make it crucial to look at each assisted living facility carefully before deciding whether it is a good fit.

Pros and Cons of Assisted Living

When it’s a good fit, assisted living can be powerful. The extra support can give seniors more confidence and there are many things to enjoy about the assisted living environment. Of course, there are disadvantages too. These can mean that assisted living isn’t the best choice for everyone.

Let’s take a close look at the various pros and cons of assisted living, along with other important areas to think about.

The Advantages

Support

The biggest advantage of assisted living is also the most obvious – you get support. Assisted living focuses on the activities of daily living (ADLs). These are the basic tasks of life, such as help with getting dressed, with incontinence, with movement, transport, and medication management.

Even more importantly, the level of care will meet your needs. So, no one is going to force you to rely on support that isn’t relevant to you. Instead, the support you receive can change as your needs do.

Being helped with daily living might sound daunting, but the process can make you more independent. You get to focus on the parts of life that you enjoy and can do well.

Safety and Security

Assisted living tends to be safer than living on your own. For one thing, the building should have security. This dramatically reduces the chance of break-ins or any door-to-door scams that target seniors.

Similarly, the facility will be designed with disasters in mind. So, if things do go wrong, there will be plans and procedures in place to keep residents safe no matter what.

The facilities tend to be safer and more accessible than your own home as well.

After all, assisted living is designed for seniors with varying levels of ability. Most will have wide doors and hallways, plenty of ramps, handrails in hallways, raised seating, and much more.

This is much easier than trying to adapt your own home to needs that may change as you age.

On Call Staff

If things do go wrong, like you have a fall or need unexpected assistance, then there is staff on hand – just a call away. This helps to resolve any problems quickly.

In contrast, if you fell while living on your own, it could easily be hours before anyone knew what happened. If you didn’t have someone checking in regularly, it might literally be days before anyone found out, which is scary.

And, even if you don’t need on call staff, having them there should give you and your family peace of mind.

Social Life

Assisted living facilities bring together many seniors, giving you an easy group of people to connect with. After all, people your own age will have many similar experiences, making it easy to find common ground.

Most residents will be retired too, so everyone has a similar amount of time on their hands. This can be more appealing than living with adult children, who are often busy with work, family, and countless other commitments.

Plus, most assisted living facilities provide many activities to try and keep their residents active and engaged. These can include classes, community gardens, games, dances, planned activities, and much more.

Engagement and Intellectual Stimulation

Many places recognize that seniors need to keep their minds sharp, so there are often plenty of opportunities to learn and grow – in whatever direction you want to.

For example, assisted living facilities will often offer art classes or yoga. Book clubs are common too, along with plenty of other options.

And, if there isn’t a club or activity that suits your needs, you could always start it for yourself. After all, you’re living with a community of seniors. There’s a good chance that others will be interested in the same area that you are.

It’s also much easier to stay active and engaged in an assisted living environment than living on your own in a house or apartment. There is simply more going on.

Healthy Lifestyle

Assisted living can help you to live a healthy life, while reducing the effort that you need to put in. For example, many places will offer dining services, where the meals are nutritious and meet individual dietary needs.

This takes all the guesswork out of preparing your own meals.

You’ll often find exercise classes as well, which help to keep you moving in a safe way.

The increased accessibility, safety, activities, and social side to assisted living is relevant to your health too. These areas call keep you healthier physically and mentally, while lowering your stress levels.

Peace of Mind

Being in assisted living reduces concern about what might happen. You know that if there is a problem, there is someone close at hand.

This is particularly important for your family. They’ll feel better knowing that there is someone watching out for you.

In some cases, overly concerned family members might now feel comfortable about taking a few steps back and letting you get on with your own life.

The Disadvantages

We can’t talk about the pros and cons of assisted living without highlighting the bad things. While many of the negative things will be obvious, it’s still worth thinking closely about them.

Rules and Regulations

Assisted living residents don’t have the same amount of freedom as when they lived on their own. Facilities have a variety of rules that will affect what the senior is and is not able to do.

These rules are often designed to protect seniors and to the place function well. Even so, many seniors find the rules overly restrictive.

Possible restrictions include:

• Residents might not be allowed to prepare their own meals
• Limited visitation times
• Whether you are able to have pets
• What you’re allowed to do with your room, like moving furniture, hanging pictures, or repainting

Thankfully, there is plenty of variation in these rules. Some places are stricter than others. Be sure to carefully read all the paperwork and ask about the various rules before signing any paperwork. It’s essential to be fully aware of all restrictions, then make an informed decision. 

And, as many people already know, restrictions can get much more severe in times of crisis. This happened at the height of COVID-19 and could easily happen again in the future.

Lack of Age Variety

Being around people of the same age can make it easier to build social connections, but some seniors struggle with the lack of variation. You might prefer being around a larger range of people, which you won’t find in assisted living.

Some seniors also talk about a tendency for residents to gossip and to be petty with one another. This may partly happen because retirees have a lot of time on their hands, so some may become overly focused on people and events.

Plus, delusions and paranoia are symptoms of dementia and may arise with other cognitive impairments. Although assisted living environments don’t focus on dementia patients, they are caring for people at risk of dementia. So, you may see more dementia-related symptoms in this environment than in the general community.

The Amount of Support Can Be Limited

Assisted living is not the same as being in a nursing home. The focus is on support for the activities of daily living. As such, the amount of medical support might not be enough for some seniors.

Some caregivers find that they still need to be very involved in their loved one’s care – which often defeats the purpose of the senior being in an assisted living facility to begin with.

Quality Varies

A high-quality assisted living facility with adequate staff and good processes can promote health, giving seniors fuller and more engaging lives. However, assisted living facilities aren’t all created equal.

There’s been plenty of controversy around low-quality assisted living facilities, where patients don’t receive the support they need. Elder abuse may even happen in some assisted living facilities and the level of oversight wasn’t always what it should be.

Such problems don’t mean that you should avoid nursing homes. But, it’s important to research carefully. Take the time to find the right facility first. Talking to current residents can be helpful, as they will have different perspectives than staff members.

Family members should also check in with seniors regularly. Keep an eye out for signs of a problem or abuse, like untreated wounds, bruises, or bed sores.  

Your Loved One Can Get ‘Kicked Out’

Here’s one of the more unexpected pros and cons of assisted living – you loved one can actually get kicked out.

This happens because Assisted living facilities can terminate contracts under certain circumstances. This doesn’t happen often and the facility needs a good reason to do so. Still, it’s important to be aware of the possibility.

The main reasons that a resident can be kicked out include the following:

• Unpaid bills
• Contract violations
• The resident needs more help than the facility can offer
• The resident is endangering the health and safety of others

The last one is particularly important, as it is broad and can be applied in many different ways.

Being kicked out for this reason can also come as a shock for caregivers, who may not have known that their family member was putting others at risk. Some caregivers might dispute the claim.

Regulation surrounding assisted living varies depending on location, but there are generally appeal processes. Even so, assisted living facilities don’t face many requirements to document their processes and it may be difficult to fight an eviction.  

The idea that the senior requires more care than the facility can provide might be surprising too. This is another area that can be applied broadly. In some cases, the facility might be able to provide the care but may not be willing to do so. This isn’t as unreasonable as it sounds. After all, the staff need to be able to care for all of the residents.

If the senior does get kicked out, you might not get a lot of notice. Some places just give 30 days of notice, which mightn’t be enough to find a new place.    

How to Pay for Assisted Living

So, you’ve taken a look at the pros and cons of assisted living and decided to give the idea a go. What next? If the idea of assisted living is starting to sound appealing, the next question is how do you pay for it?

This is often a hard question and is why many families choose to move seniors in with them, rather than look at assisted living.

The site AgingCare has a fantastic guide to paying for assisted living, including details about what Medicaid covers and what it doesn’t, along with the role of insurance and other possible methods of paying. You can check that guide out here. 

There is also a comments section, which allows you to see the perspectives of caregivers and their personal experiences.

But, as the article and the comments highlight, assisted living can be expensive. You’ll need to think about the hidden costs too. Seniors and their families won’t always have the resources to pay for this type of care, but you might be surprised. Be sure to do the research and ask for advice.

Finding the Right Facility

If assisted living sounds viable for your situation, the next step is to find a good facility. This isn’t a process to be rushed, as the quality of assisted living facilities can vary dramatically.

You need to find a high-quality facility that lives up to its claims and also matches the needs of your loved one.

There are four key steps you can take:

1. Find and list the assisted living facilities in your area
2. Compare the quality of the facilities, along with how well they match your needs
3. Visit the facilities that you’re interested in (or have someone visit for you)
4. Make an informed decision about the best facility for you

While you’re following that approach, here are some important areas to keep in mind:

• What is the senior looking for?
• What level of care do they need?
• What amenities are ideal?
• What restrictions would be a deal breaker? For example, the senior might still want the option to prepare their own meals.
• What do residents have to say about the facility? They can give you a sense of the day-to-day experience much better than any staff member can.
• What do the rooms look like? How large are they and what do they contain? Will your family member have a room of their own?
• What does it cost? What are the policies surrounding credit, billing, and payment?
• Are there extra services? If so, what do they cost and how do you pay for these?
• Under what circumstances might the contract be terminated and what are the refund processes?