Assisted Living Services in Houston

What exactly does assisted living mean?

Broadly speaking, Assisted living is a facility, commune, colony or society whose residents, primarily the old or the infirm, can avail assisted living services like elderly care services and hospice. While some facilities come with their own resident medical staff, most are staffed by professionals from elderly care services. The focus of most assisted living facilities is to promote independent living of it’s residents, and most offer a home like setting, with all necessary creature comforts. Living quarters can range from serviced independent or shared villas to individual or shared rooms within a facility or complex.

Residents are provided game rooms, hobby rooms, cafeterias and common areas to foster a sense of community and society. Some even have one or more restaurants, mini theatres etc and function like a small town. Nursing and medical staff are always at the beck and call of the residents of an assisted living facility, either as captive staff or through tie ups to nearby hospitals, since all reisdents of such facilites are people with either terminal illnesses or at an advanced age in their lives, where medical emergencies are never far away.

How does a person qualify for assisted living services?

Assisted living facilities have undergone a sea change in the past decade and today the demographics seeking elderly care services in Assisted living facilities is much more diverese in terms of age. While previously, people beyond the age of late seventies and early eighties were discouraged and denied admission into assisted living facilites and instead counselled to go to a nursing home instead, today you might find octogenarians, nonagenarians and even some centenarians thriving in senior living in Houston.

The change in mindset has been a welcome one, and it has gone a long way to undo the prejudices held about the elderly and the injustice and discrimation that they have had to face, often done with the best intentions at heart by a society did not quite understand its seniors. Anyone above the age of 18 (but more commonly in the age bracket exceeding 60’s) who require a degree of continued medical supervision and assistance, but is otherwise physically independent can apply for assisted living in Houston. Different facilities, which are run by both private and government agencies, can have more specific requirements for admission, especially in aging societies.

Generally, any senior citizen who requires elderly care services, but has no problems in carrying on with most day to day tasks- like hygiene, meal preparation, physical mobility etc- can qualify for assisted living. The people who will not benefit for assisted living services or normal elderly care services  include-

• People who have severe cognitive impairment due to advanced stages of Amnesia related illnesses like Alzheimer’s.
• People with abnormal behavioral symptoms such as wandering, which can lead them to harm themselves or others.
• People who have moblity issues and are wheelchair bound with inability to operate it themselves.
• People who have extensive medical needs, like continous medical supervision.
• People who require daily nursing services, including in their day to day acitivities like eating, washing etc.

For such cases, it is advisable to seek the services of a nursing home.

Costs associated with assisted living

Elderly care services do not come cheap and hence most assisted living facilities remain outside the reach of a large section of the population. While some, that are funded by different arms of local, state or federal government are quite cheap, they face constant funding, staffing and overcrowding issues. The truly good ones, the kind you would like your parents or grandparents to avail or you would earmark for yourself, come with a significant price tag.

For starters, almost all assisted living facilities have an entry fee, ranging from $2500 or thereabouts to upwards of four figures. Apart from that, the average monthly fee, calculated nationally, is around $4000. That works out to around $133 very day. In short, a rather expensive hotel room or cottage. All considered, assisted living services can cost you around $50000 every year.

Is Assisted Living covered by Medicare?

The short answer is no. Medicare does not cover assisted living, although Medicaid does with riders. Different states also have different programs to help pay for assisted living; one can also purchase plans and pay a premium to plan for assisted living. However, they are more like financial plans, and most have shortcomings.