[part 2 of 3 parts to work around LJ's 4,300 chacter reply limit]
Your mother should not live alone any longer. After she's been evaluated by a doctor, you will need to find a place for her to live that promotes and understands the words "memory care".
In general, there are three types of senior facilities:
1. Independent Living. Some of these offer memory care. Many of them specifically will not accept residents with dementia or Alzheimer's, so you need to use the magic words "memory care" when asking about a place for your mom. These are pretty much full apartments with kitchenettes or occasionally full kitchens that offer a common dining room and three meals daily, plus extra assistance as needed.
2. Assisted Living. Again, the magic words are "memory care". AL apartments usually have minimal individual kitchen facilities.
3. Skilled Nursing. What everybody else calls "nursing homes" or "rest homes". The residents here are largely non-ambulatory, and require assistance for even the most basic of tasks.
There is a variant somewhere between #2 and #3, called "Board & Care". B&Cs are generally large private homes with anywhere from 4 to 10 beds and a large common area with a couple of staffmembers on duty 7x24. Pricing for B&Cs is usually substantially lower than other options. Residents tend to be moderately or fully non-ambulatory.
My own mother has been shifted over the past three years between multiple facilities, mostly because I didn't understand until after I'd moved her near me from Chicago just how bad her memory condition was, and didn't understand anything about dementia or Alzheimer's:
1. Her own condo in Chicago to:
2. An independent living facility in Fremont, CA (Carlton Plaza), where she met a boyfriend who subsequently punched out another resident and was evicted. She begged me to let her move with him to:
3. An assisted living facility in Fremont, CA (Fremont Hills), which turned out to be a huge mistake. My mother was too verbal/vocal for the facility, and she and the facility detested each other on sight. It wasn't a good fit, and I never would have placed her there if it wasn't the only place that would accept Mom's then-boyfriend. My mother was evicted after five months for "disruptive behavior", at which point I moved her to:
4. An assisted living facility in Sunnyvale, CA (Belmont Village) which specialized in memory care. Mom spent a comparatively happy year here, although during this period she literally forgot how to walk (look up the phrase "impulse control" in association with "dementia" for more details), and kept falling with increasing frequency.
Your mother should not live alone any longer. After she's been evaluated by a doctor, you will need to find a place for her to live that promotes and understands the words "memory care".
In general, there are three types of senior facilities:
1. Independent Living. Some of these offer memory care. Many of them specifically will not accept residents with dementia or Alzheimer's, so you need to use the magic words "memory care" when asking about a place for your mom. These are pretty much full apartments with kitchenettes or occasionally full kitchens that offer a common dining room and three meals daily, plus extra assistance as needed.
2. Assisted Living. Again, the magic words are "memory care". AL apartments usually have minimal individual kitchen facilities.
3. Skilled Nursing. What everybody else calls "nursing homes" or "rest homes". The residents here are largely non-ambulatory, and require assistance for even the most basic of tasks.
There is a variant somewhere between #2 and #3, called "Board & Care". B&Cs are generally large private homes with anywhere from 4 to 10 beds and a large common area with a couple of staffmembers on duty 7x24. Pricing for B&Cs is usually substantially lower than other options. Residents tend to be moderately or fully non-ambulatory.
My own mother has been shifted over the past three years between multiple facilities, mostly because I didn't understand until after I'd moved her near me from Chicago just how bad her memory condition was, and didn't understand anything about dementia or Alzheimer's:
1. Her own condo in Chicago to:
2. An independent living facility in Fremont, CA (Carlton Plaza), where she met a boyfriend who subsequently punched out another resident and was evicted. She begged me to let her move with him to:
3. An assisted living facility in Fremont, CA (Fremont Hills), which turned out to be a huge mistake. My mother was too verbal/vocal for the facility, and she and the facility detested each other on sight. It wasn't a good fit, and I never would have placed her there if it wasn't the only place that would accept Mom's then-boyfriend. My mother was evicted after five months for "disruptive behavior", at which point I moved her to:
4. An assisted living facility in Sunnyvale, CA (Belmont Village) which specialized in memory care. Mom spent a comparatively happy year here, although during this period she literally forgot how to walk (look up the phrase "impulse control" in association with "dementia" for more details), and kept falling with increasing frequency.
[end part 2 of 3 parts]
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