Posted: May 5, 2020

Senior Living

How Do I Choose the Right Memory Care Community?

While you should find similarities across the board with memory care communities, there are a host of differences that make each one unique.

Many of these differences are left to personal preferences, but you need to know what they are before you can start deciding what you actually would prefer regarding care for your loved one. 

Here, we will prepare you to begin thinking about the most important areas memory care communities seem to differ in.

Differences in Care

Memory care is designed specifically for residents with Alzheimer’s Disease or other forms of Dementia. That being said, different communities have different focuses on how they approach this type of care.

Here are a few questions that will help you locate these differences:

• How do you protect residents from wandering?
• What kind of training do caregivers have?
• How do you handle medical emergencies?
• What is the ratio of caregivers to residents during the night and day?
• What sort of programs (social, outdoor, exercise, or crafts) do you offer? 
• How do you handle difficult behaviors?

While this list is a good place to start, consider your own personal questions as well. The key here is to narrow down how the community approaches care for individuals, how qualified their staff are, how safe the community is, and the degree to which the community’s approach will enrich your loved one’s life.

Differences in Cost

There is a large amount of variance in cost based on state requirements of each community. Beyond that, every community is going to differ in monthly rate for reasons related to quality and types of care, location, and the resident themself. 

It would be great if it worked like rent and they could just give you the flat monthly rate. However, that is only a possibility if the community offers an all inclusive rate, which also usually happens to be the most expensive rate they offer. 

Rate calculation is often a combination of basic rent and the method the community uses to calculate care costs, whether that be a points system, levels of care, a la carte, or all inclusive. Most of these would require your loved one to be medically assessed in order for an estimate to even be given.

So, it can be helpful to think less in terms of cost and more in terms of methods of payment. Will it be entirely private pay or will insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid cover any of it?

Come prepared with these questions:

• Do you have an average range that residents pay per month?
• How often do the rates typically change?
• What is included in the monthly rate?
• Is insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid accepted?

Differences in Setting & Location

Memory care communities should be built with their residents in mind. They should have plenty of natural light and the structure of the buildings should promote a safe and calming space. 

Additionally, you should consider how close you need to be to your loved on in order to visit however frequently you wish to. So, both the location within your area and the buildings themselves should be considered. 

Here are a few questions you should be asking both yourself and the community:

• How does this community’s structure promote the health and happiness of its residents?
• How is the community secured?
• Is this a stand-alone community or a neighborhood combined with assisted and independent living?
• How close is this community to my own home?
• How often will I be able to visit?

All of the questions contained in this article should help get you on your way, but are not the only ones worth considering. Ask yourself how you would like these questions to be answered in order to figure out your most ideal situation for your loved one. 

Once you have gotten the answers you want, continue to ask other people and visit the community to observe. The more information you have, the more equipped you will be to choose the best memory care community for your loved one.