Assisted Living vs Memory Care
For many aging adults, dealing with the reality that they might need some form of assisted living is unpleasant. It can be the same for their children—they want what’s best for their parents or relatives, but they might not know how to approach the situation.
Luckily, our experience and expertise can help you find out if assisted living or memory care services are the right choice for you or your loved one. Below you’ll find answers and resources to help guide your decision, and if you still have questions about your specific situation, feel free to reach out! We’d love to help you find your new home.
What is Assisted Living and Memory Care?
First off, let’s start with a short explanation of each service. Assisted living is essentially what the name suggests: aging adults live in a residential environment and are given any assistance they need to live their lives peacefully. People in assisted living communities will often live in a residence with other aging adults, monitored by nursing staff and other caregivers. These individuals often require a little more help than those who can live in independent living or retirement communities, whether that means they don’t move well on their own or they need specific medical care.
Memory care is a more specialized version of assisted living. It often encompasses those who have dementia, Alzheimer’s, or other cognitive diseases. Due to the nature of these neurological conditions, memory care communities will have more lifestyle and medical services and supervision to ensure the safety and well being of their residents. We like to think of memory care as assisted living plus.
Want a more personalized guide regarding assisted living or memory care? Consult an assisted living or memory care expert today!
Differences Between Assisted Living and Memory Care
Assisted living and memory care communities might offer many of the same services, such as meals and dining, housekeeping, life enrichment, and help with daily activities. The main difference is that memory care is specialized in providing the optimal assistance an aging adult with memory loss might need.
Meals and Dining
Food is incredibly important for aging adults because many health conditions stem from poor nutrition. At most assisted living and memory care communities, three meals are offered throughout the day, ideally in a dining area where residents can socialize. Both types of communities might offer several menu options to give residents a choice, which is conducive to independence and dignified living.
Memory care communities offer more nutrition-focused services related to dining to fit their residents’ needs. For instance, aging adults with dementia might have difficulty handling forks or spoons to feed themselves, so some memory care communities will provide finger food options in their menus in order to make eating easier for their residents.
Memory loss can also complicate nutrition, so memory care communities will offer nutritional diets to make sure their residents are eating the right foods with the necessary nutrients and caloric intake to best meet their health needs. Meals are also often served in environments that are less distracting to avoid interruptions.
Specialized Environment & Safety
The environment of each community is also an important consideration. For instance, assisted living communities don’t always offer environments that are suited to protect memory care residents from safety concerns. For those who have not worked with residents who experience memory loss, an assisted living community might look just fine, but there are many ways to make memory care communities so much more intuitive for their residents.
Assisted living communities often offer a kitchen or kitchenette in residents’ rooms, but memory care rooms do not. Memory care communities also secure entrances and exits to prevent wandering, sometimes through tracking bracelets, or AI, that alert staff if a resident is too close to an exit. Memory care communities are also specially designed with larger windows, calming colors, and cozy social spaces. Remember, dementia doesn’t just affect memory and cognition—it can also affect the five senses. These details can make life safer for residents and allow them to strive for independence.
The safety of residents is of the utmost importance for any kind of assisted living community. Assisted living communities will often include components like emergency alert systems and daily check-ins. Memory care communities usually offer more check-ins depending on each resident and their needs.
5 Signs It’s Time for Memory Care
Worsening physical health: oftentimes, we don’t notice that a loved one’s health may be deteriorating or declining because it happens slowly over time. Then, all of a sudden, we realize that their health might not be in the best condition. This might be happening if an aging adult is not receiving the type of care they need to maintain their physical health.
Behavioral changes: when a person has dementia, their behavior might start to reflect their mental state. For instance, someone who used to be very independent might not want to drive anymore, or they might decline invitations to social gatherings and choose to be alone and withdraw.
Demonstrating confusion or disorientation that may put them at risk: we always want to keep our loved ones safe, so when their confusion may lead them to get hurt, that should be a strong sign that they need supervision or personalized care.
Decline in caregiver’s health: many people with dementia are taken care of by a relative or other loved one. In some cases, the person who is taking care of someone who needs memory care might begin to show signs of deterioration due to the stress of providing for their loved one, especially if they have a career. Aging adults who need memory care require a lot of supervision and emotional attention, and a person who is juggling many things might begin to lose weight or show other symptoms of health problems.
Incontinence: caregivers already have so many responsibilities, and if an aging adult can’t control their bowel movements, that’s a strong indicator that they might need specialized care.
If you’d like more guidance on whether your loved one needs memory care, download our ebook here.
Team Member Training
Assisted living and memory care communities need well-trained caregivers in order to provide high quality care for their residents. In assisted living communities, the staff or team members help residents with bathing, grooming, dressing, and moving around the community.
In memory care communities, the team member is additionally educated on dementia and other memory loss conditions, and they are taught how to respond and communicate with residents. It takes a compassionate and effective caregiver to manage difficult dementia behaviors such as wandering and aggression, while simultaneously helping aging adults maintain a sense of self and maximize their quality of life. Memory care community teams often provide 24-hour care and supervision to ensure resident safety, and the high ratio of staff to residents ensures aging adults get more attention throughout the day.
Some communities offer both assisted living and memory care services. In this case, the staff might also be shared between communities, but team members are aware of the differences in resident needs.
Amenities and Activities
Each community has their own list of amenities and activities, but here are some that are offered by both assisted living and memory care communities.
Outdoor spaces like gardens, pavilions or courtyards
Spas, salons and barber shops
Therapy and exercise rooms
Pet-friendly rooms
Transportation services (i.e. appointments or errands)
Game rooms and libraries
Arts and crafts studio
Bistro and cafes
On top of these amenities, memory care communities will often offer therapies that enhance memory retention. These activities are designed to help maintain cognitive skills and provide a sense of comfort and routine for residents. These activities may include:
Art therapy: helps slow memory loss
Music therapy: soothes and reduces anxiety, can help aging adults access different parts of their brain
Reminiscence therapy: uses senses like smell, taste, touch, and sight to help aging adults remember people, events, and places
Pet therapy for companionship
These memory-enhancing activities are not just fun—they also help slow memory decline.
Unsure if you need assisted living or memory care? Fill out our questionnaire to find out what’s your best fit!
Cost
In a perfect world, everyone can get the care they need, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, these services can be somewhat expensive due to the amount of supervision needed. Assisted living communities, for example, require check-ins, medical examinations, meals, and more. Of course, cost will always depend on many factors, such as the location of the community, room size, the services provided, and whether a resident shares a room or not.
Memory care includes more supervision, more specialized training, and stronger security and safety measures. Because memory care communities often offer the same services as assisted living communities and more, they are often more expensive than assisted living communities.
What services are offered?
We’ve made a handy table to visually represent the services offered in assisted living and memory care. Of course, each service will depend on the community—some high-quality assisted living communities offer amazing services that are personalized to fit the needs of their residents.
Which One Do I Pick: Assisted Living or Memory Care?
Making this decision can be the difference between your loved one getting the care they need. If memory loss is not an immediate concern and your relative is relatively independent, then assisted living should be enough to meet their needs.
Of course, the next question for many is: how do I know if memory loss or cognitive decline is a concern for my relative? Below, we have compiled a list of questions to help you determine whether your loved one needs assisted living or memory care.
Does my loved one:
need a lot of direction and attention throughout the day?
need 24-hour supervision?
leave on stoves?
wander frequently?
show aggressive behavior such as yelling or hitting?
take things that don’t belong to them?
need a lot of help with mobility?
forget to lock or shut doors?
withdraw and self-isolate?
often misplace objects?
If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” memory care might be the best option to make sure your loved one receives the care they need.
Making a Decision
No matter which option you choose, you’ll want to make sure you pick a place that can support the needs of your loved one. If you’re looking for more guidance as to whether your relative may need assisted living or memory care, you can download our guide to learn more about memory care and whether it’s the right choice for your loved one.
For more information on memory care, check out our free guide: What To Look For in a Memory Care Community.
How to Pick the Right Assisted Living or Memory Care Community
Once you have decided which type of community might be best for your relative, now it’s time to find the right place. As you do your own research, try to find out if the residence is licensed and what kind of insurance they provide for personal property. Also, don’t forget to look into their visitation policy and their medical emergency responses.
Furthermore, make sure you look into the services each community provides. For example, the amount of meals, personal care, and housekeeping are very important to keep your loved one happy. When it comes to safety, check if they have emergency care 24 hours a day, medication monitoring, and other medical services.