As we grow older, we may find ourselves experiencing a little more anxiety. There are many factors that can contribute to it, including chronic health and pain challenges, mobility issues and loss of family and friends. But there are also other reasons that can make an older adult feel less safe or secure, such as:
- Feeling unsafe in the home
- Experiencing loneliness or becoming socially isolated
- Not being able to keep physically and mentally in shape
- Difficulties with shopping or preparing healthy food
Searching for a sense of safety and security as seniors
Many of the older adults who visit our community are searching for safety and security. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to read more about YUSM at Tenfold–a lifestyle defined by feeling Youthful, staying Useful, being Spontaneous, and remaining Mobile.
If you are looking for greater safety and security, you may want to consider how the benefits of a senior living community compare to those living at home.
Senior living safety: how a senior living community can help
Senior living offers many lifestyle benefits. The following comparisons of home versus senior living may help clarify how best to help you gain back their feelings of safety and security:
- Is the home and neighborhood designed to be age-friendly?
Home safety: Does your home have steps to enter and more stairs to climb to the bedroom, bathroom or laundry? Is the neighborhood safe and easy to walk? Who handles the routine maintenance, like changing light bulbs and batteries in your smoke detector?
Senior living safety: Our communities are designed with older adults in mind. We have two elevators for easy access, and a grand staircase if you want a little exercise. We are fully licensed, so there are emergency response systems in every apartment, with our team available on site 24-hours a day.
- Are preventative measures available to avoid falling?
Home safety: Are there tripping hazards in the home, such as uneven floors or switching from wood or tile to carpet at thresholds?
Senior living safety: You’ll discover grab bars in the bathroom, no-threshold showers so they can simply walk in, cabinets and shelves at a reachable height and assistance if help is needed. We offer fitness classes designed to improve your balance and reduce falls. We partner with ONR to provide on-site physical therapy and occupational therapy, as needed.
- Is caregiving available?
Home safety: Does your parent live alone or with a spouse or partner who is also facing health challenges? Others can become injured while trying to support someone in a fall, suffer from exhaustion, or ignore their own health needs. Finding and managing outside caregivers can become a fulltime job, and can be cost prohibitive given the frequency of visits.
Senior living safety: We hire and train our own Tenfold team of professional caregivers. As a licensed RCFE, we have care staff on-site 24-hours a day and can respond when needed. We can take the weight off family members by providing care, so you can go back to your familial relationship without the stress of also trying to be a caregiver.
- Is help needed with medication management?
Home safety: Many older adults take multiple prescriptions and it can be a struggle to manage the right doses taken at the right time. Even with family to help, it’s hard to track several medications.
Senior living safety: Medication management is available with a professional tracking system in place. Letting the staff take on this responsibility can relieve family members and provide greater consistency and reliability.
- Is loneliness or isolation a problem?
Home safety: Loneliness or isolation is a great risk to health and often depends on whether there is access to transportation or if friends or family are still in the area for support.
Senior living safety: Another great benefit of senior living is the ease in meeting new people and making friends. Our Events and Adventures team constantly surprises and delights our residents. Their can-do spirit means they don’t think about boundaries, leading to some truly unexpected results–and new friendships.
- Is transportation available?
Home safety: Are you driving less or not at all, living in a neighborhood without alternative transportation may mean staying at home or relying on others for rides.
Senior living safety: Driving when older can cause anxiety but missing out on activities is also detrimental to health. We have both a community bus and a hybrid sedan and will arrange trips for shopping, off-site activities and medical appointments.
Please contact us at 916-226-5300 if we can answer any of your questions, provide further information or if you would like to schedule a personalized tour.
