Should I Transition My Parent from Assisted Living to Memory Care

One of the most important decisions faced by most of us concerns moving a parent into an assisted living facility. Guilt can consume you and fear can overwhelm your parents. However, the hand-wringing does not end after your parents move into a senior housing facility in Phoenix, Arizona. For example, MorningStar at Arcadia offers three lifestyle options, one of which is the availability of memory care services. A new dilemma arises and it begs the question, “Should I transition my parents from assisted living to memory care?”

Assisted living involves a team of caregivers providing support in the form of meals, transportation, and medication management. It is a much more hands-off approach to providing care than the services provided by memory care. Memory care residents typically receive much more intensive attention, such as supervised care around the clock and personal care assistance like providing support for bathing. 

Our team of resident care professionals acts as a valuable resource to determine when the time has arrived to move a parent into memory care from an assisted living arrangement. However, you should contribute to the important conversation by understanding the three signs that it is time for a parent to transition from assisted living to memory care.

Safety Becomes a Major Concern

As dementia symptoms become worse, older adults can become vulnerable to a large number of safety issues. For example, a simple stroll around the grounds of an assisted living facility can quickly turn dangerous, as a resident forgets how to get back to the starting point. Basic personal care tasks such as bathing and cooking also have the potential to harm an older adult developing the symptoms of dementia. Signs that safety should be a concern include difficulty eating, taking the wrong prescription pills, and developing unexplained bruises on the body.

A Decline in Cognitive Skills

Because assisted living arrangements give residents more autonomy, a decline in cognitive skills is a red flag that alerts you to the need to transition your parents into memory care. From trouble holding conversations to failing to understand what goes on during certain activities can be signs your parent needs to receive more intensive personal care services. Assisted living residents who suffer from cognitive skills decline often isolate themselves from the rest of the community. Our memory care residents not only receive more intensive personal care, but our caregivers also can help residents recover some diminished cognitive skills.

Physical Impairments

Detecting a decline in a parent’s cognitive skills can be difficult to do because you do not spend as much time with your loved one. However, you can determine if it is time to transition a parent from assisted living to memory care by noticing physical impairments. Perhaps your loved one has lost significant motor control, which negatively impacts balance and coordination. Other types of physical impairment signs that might indicate the development of dementia symptoms include acute pain and chronic fatigue. 

Moving a Parent from Assisted Living to Memory Care

If you decide to move a parent from assisted living to a memory care community, make sure your parent has every cognitive need met to ensure safety. Keep the transition simple, which means choosing an assisted living facility in Phoenix that also offers memory care services. Allow your parents to maintain the same routine, as familiarity represents a powerful feeling that eases stress and anxiety. Seniors who develop dementia symptoms still want to retain control, dignity, and independence.

At MorningStar at Arcadia, we help older adults transition from assisted living to memory care because we devote an entire wing of our facility to providing memory care services. This means you do not have to leave our facility to enroll a parent in a different memory care program located on the other side of the Phoenix metro area. Learn more about the assisted living and memory care services provided by MorningStar at Arcadia by submitting the Contact form.