What is the Difference Between Independent Living and Assisted Living?

Older adults in need of extra support and care have more options than ever before. In fact, there are so many viable options that the process of finding an appropriate facility can often be extremely stressful. This is especially true if you don’t know the criteria you should be using to narrow down your list of choices.

The Difference Between Independent Living and Assisted Living

Independent living and assisted living communities are two of the most popular choices. Although they both offer a variety of benefits to older adults, you might not know how to distinguish between them.

This confusion is more common than you might think, so you aren’t alone in thinking about this topic.

Deciding between independent and assisted living is not always an easy one to make. It usually depends on how well an individual can manage daily affairs like housekeeping, grooming, cooking, and transportation by themselves. The overall health and mobility of an older loved one should also be taken into consideration.

Although independent and assisted living communities have many things in common, such as safety, security, and companionship, there are multiple aspects that distinguish the two. Lest expand on these differences.

Independent Living vs. Assisted Living

Independent living is intended for older adults who can still manage most of their daily needs on their own (summerfieldinfo.com/independent-living). Services such as meals, housekeeping,maintenance, and other common tasks are included in monthly fees or available separately in most cases.Transitional services are also available separately.

Unlike independent living, assisted living is made specifically for older adults that require more assistance when it comes to taking care of their daily needs(summerfieldinfo.com/assisted-living-utah-retirement/). In assisted living residents are free to do what they please when they want,but they will always have staff and other means of support readily available.

These factors, having hands-on care and assistance, come to be the main difference between independent and assisted living facilities.Similarly, other types of support are more readily available in assisted living than they are in independent communities. The types of support vary by community and depend largely on the resident’s needs, but they often include help with tasks like medication management, bathing and grooming.

Another difference lies in the types of life enrichment activities offered. In an independent living community, you will typically find more active programming, such as shopping and community outings. An assisted living community activities program is designed to accommodate mobility struggles and other physical challenges common in older adults.

Come Visit and See the Difference for Yourself

We know the decision to move is stressful enough on its own. It can become even more daunting when you are trying to narrow down your options to one community.We’d like to offer you some assistance, Visit summerfieldinfo.com to find out specific information as to what we offer here at Summerfield. Feel free to contact us at (801) 434-7581 as well to organize a tour.