What is Assisted Living?
Assisted living residences provide housing and a range of supportive services, including personalized assistance, for seniors and people with disabilities who can live independently but require regular help with day-to-day activities. The following gives an overview of assisted living services.
Housing
Accommodation ranges from private, lockable rooms to private, self-contained suites. Residences typically have ensuite bathrooms and may have private cooking facilities. They include common dining and recreational space and amenities that assist occupants with day-to-day living. An occupancy agreement describing the occupant's and operator's obligations is usual.
Hospitality Services
Assisted living operators provide meal services, housekeeping, laundry, social and recreational opportunities and a 24-hour emergency response system.
Personal Assistance
Personal assistance services are designed to promote maximum dignity and independence for occupants and involve family and friends. Personalized assistance offered by assisted living operators can be routine, such as help with dressing, or intensive, such as administering medications (higher level care services are called "prescribed services"). A cornerstone of assisted living is that personal assistance must be respectful of and responsive to occupants' preferences, needs and values. Examples of personal assistance services include:
- help with activities of daily living, such as eating, dressing, bathing, grooming or mobility;
- assistance with medications, such as reminders or help to take medications;
- support to maintain healthy eating by providing nutritious meals or modified diets as required; and
- assistance with purchases or paying bills, with regular reporting to the occupant or a designate of how the funds were spent.
Staffing
Residence staff will be appropriately trained. Staff providing assistance with activities of daily living have a college home support/resident care aide certificate or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Professional supervision is provided for tasks delegated by a professional to a non-professional. As an example, although registered nurses are not usually on site 24 hours a day, a registered nurse could come into the residence to supervise a personal care aide responsible for checking if medications have been taken.
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