Four Challenges The Elderly Sometimes Face When Transitioning To Assisted Living
If you're helping a loved one transition to assisted living, you should be aware of what challenges are likely to come up for the elderly during such a transition. This way, you can anticipate potential challenges and address them before they begin to create discomfort or conflict for an elderly loved one in your life.
The following are four common challenges the elderly face when transitioning to assisted living:
Seeing primarily unfamiliar faces and feeling lonely
When an individual transitions to assisted living, the people around them in their everyday life change significantly. However, you can address this problem by visiting your loved one as much as possible and having other friends and family visits in the initial days and weeks after the move.
Over time, your loved one will become familiar with their new setting and build relationships with their new neighbors and with the employees at the assisted living center they move to. However, in the early days, it's very important to make an effort to keep as many familiar faces around your loved one as possible so that he or she doesn't start to feel lonely.
Losing their independence
Most people dread the thought of losing their independence as they get older. Even though your loved one is making the move to assisted living, that doesn't mean that he or she doesn't want to maintain control over their everyday life.
Make sure you're focusing on maximizing your loved one's independence in their new home. Your loved one should continue to care for themselves in every way possible and make their own decisions regarding their schedule.
Becoming sedentary
It's important that your loved one stays active after relocating to an assisted living facility. Being inactive leads to a plethora of health issues.
Make sure your loved one is aware of and encouraged to use any fitness facilities. If nothing else, at least make sure that your loved one stays mobile and gets up to walk and move around as much as possible on a daily basis to avoid a completely sedentary lifestyle.
Not feeling at home anymore
A lot of individuals who are transitioning to an assisted living facility are leaving homes they've had for a long time. As such, they may struggle to feel at home in new and unfamiliar surroundings.
You can help your loved one to feel at home in assisted living as quickly as possible by giving them opportunities to customize their new living quarters. Help them to decorate their new room with familiar decor accessories and give them as much control as possible over the layout and furnishings of their new living space. Contact Sequoia Springs Senior Living to learn more.
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