Retirement Homes
Is a Retirement Home the right fit for me?
Retirement Homes offer the next step up of care: physical, social and as a reward for a life well lived.
On the one hand, do you want a break from the daily responsibilities of household life? Do you want to be more pampered and looked after now? A Retirement Home offers more services than a seniors apartment complex. Independent living is preserved at a Retirement Home. For example, many people living in Retirement Homes still drive car and keep up outside activities and friendships.
On the other hand, has health limited your ability to keep up with the ordinary tasks of household living? Perhaps the above-mentioned issues of balance, movement and toileting have increased your overall needs. Additional complications can enter like the need for memory promptings or inability to safely and reliably cook meals or keep one’s environment clean.
Are you tired of or no longer capable of shopping for and preparing your own meals, laundry, housecleaning and home maintenance? Various health issues can interfere with these chores. Simple yet profound safety issues come in to play. Stove fires, cooking burns or hot water scalds happen when one’s health or balance or mobility is compromised. The harshest risk is a debilitating fall. Falls can happen anywhere and at any time. The advantage of a Retirement Home is having professional, trained assistance in very quick time. Even if a fallen person has not been able to use an alert pendant or is incapable of calling out or help, they would soon be noticed as missing from a meal or activity and checked upon. Appropriately, if needed, most Retirement Homes offer the extra service of “night checks” to quietly ensure you are safe throughout the night.
So, whether it is by choice or necessity, you may be at that place in retirement of “I have arrived”: “someone can look after me for a change”. If you enjoy good meals without the burden of planning the menu, shopping, preparing, serving and cleaning the dishes, pots and pans, then a Retirement Home may be for you. As a bonus, the building and grounds are looked after as well. Moreover, your social health is supported with company at meals. Optional exercise, a variety of optional social activities are also available in a Retirement Home. Friendships are fostered both old and new. And, as a balance, when you feel like you need some “me” time, you have your private space.
With regard to care, Retirement Homes have health maintenance and emergency assistance in mind. For example, understanding, organizing and remembering to take your medicines may be a challenge for you. Most Retirement Homes offer “medical administration” as an option. (At Cardinal Place, “medical administration” is included in the rate at no additional charge.) This way, if your health is dependent on medication you have a much better chance at maintaining your health and addressing the health concern effectively. As an added bonus, you also have a Registered Practical Nurse seeing you during medicine distribution and noticing if you have any change in symptoms. As you become known to the Care Team it is changes to your condition that best indicate your health and your health needs.
So, the big advantage of a Retirement Home is the professional observation of your health and wellbeing. Standard, by regulation, of all Retirement Homes is the provision and maintenance of a “Care Plan” or “Plan of Care”. A registered professional will sit with you at a Retirement Home to create an individual, customized plan for what you need. Staff are available to check up on your progress and maintenance of that Care Plan. Moreover, if there is an emergency like a fall or sudden health decline, professional assistance is within the building 24/7. Time is of the essence in many treatable health emergencies. It be the difference between an incident and a tragedy. Most emergencies are successfully treated thanks to incredible people serving in our healthcare system. Yet, if there is a significant delay in you getting that assistance, it could have painful, life-debilitating consequences. In a Retirement Home, that help is nearby. And, as a bonus, your family and loved ones can rest assured that that anxious tension is no longer their burden.
If your medical conditions have involved more doctor visits then a Retirement Home offers more convenience, too. Most Retirement Homes have a visiting doctor once a week. This would mean a change of doctor because you are allowed to be on the roster of only one General Practitioner at a time. However, the convenience is beneficial. If you need to see the doctor you simply ask the in-house nurse and the doctor will see you or address your concern at the next visit. This compares to making transportation arrangements and going out to the doctor’s office.