The population of those who are considered to be elderly is one that is growing all throughout the world – but particularly in the United States. This is something that can be attributed to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, with more and more members of this generation reaching and surpassing the age of 65 with each passing year. With the age of retirement currently at the average age of 63, elderly people are becoming in need of more and more care. In fact, long term care is quite common for elderly people and nearly three quarters of the elderly population will need it at some point during their twilight years.
But how can they get this care while still maintaining a good quality of life? In most cases, the answer will lie in an assisted living facility. After all, in home care is often not available – and relying on family members for this care in one’s declining years is not always a good idea, to say the very least. Unfortunately, taking on the care of an elderly loved one proves to be too big of a burden to shoulder indeed. Most family members, no matter how loving and caring they might be, will simply just not have the resources or the training to provide the highest quality of care possible to their declining loved one.
Fortunately, assisted living facilities and nursing homes can provide what the average person won’t be able to. Assisted living facilities can provide the daily care that so many elderly people need, something that is backed up by the data gathered on the subject. After all, this data shows that up to a full 40% of the population at your average assisted living home or memory care home will need help with at least three aspects of day to day life, if not even more of them. In addition to this, the workers and employees at your typical assisted living facility will be able to provide both care and supervision on an around the clock basis, making it easier than ever to get the care that is needed – when it is needed.
And the average assisted living facility is certainly not one size fits all. With more than 22,000 assisted living facilities now found all throughout the country, the differences between these facilities can be stark. For one thing, such assisted living facilities can vary greatly in terms of size. Some assisted living facilities, for instance, will have just ten or so beds to fill, while others can have up to 100 or even more. In addition to this, there are some assisted living facilities, like memory care facilities, that are specialized for those who are dealing with some form of dementia.
After all, dementia is something that will impact the lives of many people, particularly in their later years. Though Alzheimer’s disease is by and large the most common type of dementia and makes up more than 85% of all dementia cases, there are actually more than 100 different types of dementia that are known and diagnosed all throughout the country. In the years that are to come, even more varieties of this debilitating condition are likely to be discovered. Ultimately, the course of any type of dementia is likely to result in the need for some type of long term care. Therefore, many people throughout the country will need to enter a memory care facility or an assisted living facility that can specialize in memory care.
At the end of the day – and at the end of life too, for that matter – memory care and other type of long term care can be hugely beneficial and even hugely necessary indeed. For all too many people, the quality of life without this care would be much lower. Therefore, moving to some sort of assisted living facility is something that is quite likely to benefit a huge population of people indeed, especially in the coming years and as the Baby Boomer generation continues to age and become more likely to be in need of such long term care solutions for their declining years of life.
