Senior memory care versus assisted living can be particularly confusing in terms of what each offers to elderly residents. Generally, senior memory care communities offer an environment that is especially suited to the needs and safety concerns of those with memory and judgment issues. Alternatively, assisted living communities do not offer these extra measures, which can result in an otherwise unsafe environment for someone with dementia.

Typically, senior memory care is focused on treating more advanced cognitive impairments, like Alzheimer’s disease and advanced dementia. In this case, residents would require professionally trained caregivers in a safe, structured environment. Safety precautions such as door alarms, as well as environmental considerations like video monitoring, motion-sensor lights, or one-touch sinks, in addition to secured doors, which protect those who are prone to wandering. These features not only allow residents to have a safer living experience by preventing falls and other mishaps but also allows for independence.

In comparison, assisted living provides personal assistance with seniors’ activities of daily living (ADL), such as bathing, dressing, or grooming, but not medical or nursing care. In assisted living, residents are able to move around independently, attend to toileting without help, and generally take care of themselves, although some may require the use of a cane or walker.

Clover Care Home provides senior memory care in a clean, comfortable, home-like environment. We offer a variety of living arrangements and support levels based on individual needs. Senior memory care and assisted living may share nurses and nursing assistants; however, we also have staff with additional training and experience with the issues seniors with dementia often face (i.e. swallowing difficulties, wandering, and anxiety).

While assisted living offers three meals a day, often in a comfortable social setting, senior memory care offers family-style meals and healthy snacks, in an environment that is conducive to socialization and independence that respects the dignity of residents with dementia. Multiple menu choices are available to residents, as well as individualized diets that best suits a resident’s needs and preferences.

In addition to our scheduled events, we provide random everyday activities that are designed to meet each resident’s interests, support their physical, mental, and psychosocial wellbeing, and encourage independence and personal interaction within the community. You may not be aware that music therapy can help a person with dementia access different parts of their brain. Unlike assisted living communities that focus on entertaining residents, senior memory care offers specific life enrichment activities tailored to the unique cognitive needs of people with dementia. For example, Pets For Life is a program that can be beneficial to dementia care because interacting with animals is cognitively stimulating.

At Clover Care Home, our senior memory care staff – from the administrator to the housekeepers – have knowledge and skills that help them understand the brains of people living with dementia while mastering strategies for mitigating distress and supporting seniors. If your loved one seems anxious or has problem behaviors, struggles with daily functioning need support most of the time or seem afraid and lonely living at home, or you have trouble supporting and reassuring them at home, senior memory care is usually the best option. We strive to meet the needs of family members, as well, offering tips and advice that will reduce the frustrations that are part of dementia care.

Clover Care Home

913-991-2605