Senior Sunrise

Finding senior housing can seem like a daunting task. To make it a bit easier break down what you need to do into smaller more manageable tasks. Your first task should be to create a budget that covers housing costs, medical bills, groceries, and incidentals. Next do some research on the various costs of senior living facilities. How long will your money last at a premium location or a middle of a road location? Will you need government assistance?

Once you have a budget in place you need to consider medical needs. Is an independent living facility the right fit? Do you need the assistance of a full time nurse? Does dementia run in the family, thus prompting the need for a specially equipped facility? If you need assistance or additional information, contact the local adult protective services. They’ll be able to guide you to local options.

When it comes to apartment living occasional noise from other units is to be expected. Unfortunately, we had an elderly neighbor living above us who was succumbing to dementia. He believed that there was a third occupant living in our apartment specifically harassing him at night. This caused him to blare his music loudly and pound on his floors (our ceiling) in an attempt to drown out this mystery person.

We explained to our neighbor several times that there were only two of us in the apartment; no one had moved in and that we were asleep during the times he believed this person was harassing him. He would look confused, mutter something about his hearing aid acting up, and then wander off. The behavior continued so we alerted adult protective services to see if they could have him evaluated. APS visited his home and is working on a plan with his doctor’s and may recommend that he be moved to an assisted living facility that specializes in care for dementia patients.