High-quality senior living communities offer the latest amenities, privacy, comfort, and beautifully decorated home-inspired environments for seniors. The variety of settings, care offerings, and residences can range from convenient high-rise apartments near metropolitan centers to converted Victorian homes, to campus communities with all the charms of a small town. There is no single blueprint for assisted living because consumers' preferences and needs vary widely. Most residences have between 25 and 120 living units, varying in size from a single room to a full apartment. They may be operated by nonprofit or for-profit organizations.

Assisted living residences provide more services than independent living communities. They offer a less-expensive, residential approach to delivering many of the same services available in skilled nursing homes, either by employing health-care staff or contracting with home health agencies and other outside professionals.

Typical Assisted Living Services:

• Access to health care and medical services customized to specific needs.
• 24-hour emergency call systems for each resident.
• Three meals a day served in dining area, housekeeping, and laundry services.
• Assistance with eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, and walking as needed.
• Shuttle buses, exercise and wellness programs.

Apartments and Furnishings

Senior living communities offer a variety of design styles, sizes, and types of living units - both private or companion occupancy. While some residences are fully furnished, residents typically bring their own furnishings to personalize their apartment. Kitchens may also be included, with a refrigerator, sink, and cooking element. Bathrooms should be designed to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers, whether the resident needs such assistance now or may in the future. Common areas in senior living residences typically include dining rooms, often designed like upscale restaurants; small cafe-type spaces for snacks and drinks; wellness/fitness rooms; gaming rooms; and small libraries, parlors, and other spaces for residents' enjoyment. Many senior housing providers offer or facilitate moving assistance to new residents.

When visiting residences, look for the following attributes:

• Community is well-designed to meet your needs.
• Floor plan is easy to follow.
• Doorways, hallways, and rooms are accommodating to wheelchairs and walkers.
• Elevators are available for those unable to use stairways.
• Handrails are available to aid in walking.
• Cupboards and shelves are easy to reach.
• Floors are made of non-skid material and carpets are firm to ease walking.
• Residence has good natural and artificial lighting.
• Residence is clean, free of odors, and appropriately heated/cooled.

Assistance with Daily Activities

Whether you or your loved one needs no assistance or a great deal of assistance, there's a perfect community available to meet your needs. Those needing no assistance with daily activities such as dressing, eating, and bathing might consider an independent living community, while those needing some assistance, including cognitive, would be best served in assisted living. At the far end of the spectrum, nursing homes cater to those with significant health-care needs.

In general, you should expect the following assistance to be available from an assisted living provider:

• Staff available to meet scheduled and unscheduled needs
• Staff available to provide 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living if needed
• Assistance with bathing and dressing as needed (Bathing assistance may be offered in a spa-like setting)
• Three meals a day and snacks between meals
• Housekeeping services in residents' living units
• Scheduled transportation available to residents on fairly short notice
• Pharmacy, barber/beautician, and/or physical therapy services offered on-site

Many senior living communities also offer memory care for those with Alzheimer's or other dementia. Such care typically includes innovative therapies to improve quality of life.

Entertainment, Activities, and Wellness

Most senior housing communities offer a variety of activities and entertainment to engage residents and enhance their quality of life - from book groups to planned theater outings to gardening clubs. Residents typically participate in activities outside the residence as well. Certainly, quality of life has different meanings for different people, so high-quality communities offer a variety of social programs to meet residents' interests. Activities staff will often assess each resident's activity and leisure needs and interests to help them identify programs of interest. You should expect a balanced calendar of activities for everyone from the active senior to the memory-care resident. Wellness and physical fitness also are part of a well-planned activities program. Most communities include fitness rooms and staff on hand to help residents develop fitness plans that suit their needs. Special classes are typically offered as well, such as yoga, chair exercises, and walking.

Meals, Housekeeping, and Laundry

Dining and food services are the biggest contributors to resident satisfaction in senior living communities. Because the sense of taste diminishes over time, senior living communities have become increasingly innovative in menu selection and customizing offerings to their residents. Dining styles in senior living range from cafeteria style to fine dining. 

Senior Living communities dining room menus vary from day to day and from meal to meal. Three nutritionally balanced meals are provided each day, seven days a week, and snacks are provided between meals. Residents may request special foods and dietary needs, and residents may choose to dine in their own rooms as well.

Access to Health Care

While independent living and assisted living are not medical models of senior living care, some services are typically provided in these communities such as medication management and maintaining records. More acute health-care services are provided in nursing homes. However, assisted living and independent living residents may choose to have home health care provided in their apartment from an outside provider. And, in fact, some senior living providers have established home health divisions, which can also provide such services. The resident should not have to move out of his or her home to receive care.

When visiting and vetting residences, look for the following: 

• A staff person is available to coordinate home health care visits from a nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, etc. if needed. 
• Staff is available to assist residents who experience memory, orientation, or judgment losses. 
• The residence has a clearly stated procedure for responding to a resident's medical emergency. 
• A physician or nurse visits residents regularly to provide medical checkups.
  

Memory Care

One third of residents in assisted living have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, according to research. If you are helping someone with memory-impairment choose a residence, several important considerations must be made, particularly in regard to safety/security and memory care therapies.

• Check out research about Alzheimer's in assisted living.
• The Alzheimer's Association provides specific tips for identifying good Alzheimer’s care. 
  
  

Safety and Security

Peace of mind drives many decisions to seek senior housing for yourself or a loved one. Having a secure building where you know you or your loved one is protected from wandering or emergencies is very important.

Senior living residences typically include a 24-hour emergency response system that is accessible from the resident's apartment, along with security and monitoring systems that prevent resident wandering.

New technologies now available and in use in many senior living residences employ behavioral monitoring, which tracks and monitors residents' habits, helping caregivers anticipate needs and be alerted to any health changes in an individual's health.

Resident Transportation

For an individual to feel independent, readily-available transportation is essential. Certainly, residents can bring their own cars, yet some seniors may be ready to turn in their car keys and enjoy chauffeured transportation instead. While scheduled outings are typically offered by senior living residents, individuals should also expect to receive transportation as needed or desired for doctor appointments, shopping, etc.