Long Term Care Rated #1 by Families in Mesa, Goodyear and Surprise, Arizona
There comes a time in the lives of every family when the elderly people need help. Many families notice a decline in their parents or grandparents and try to help. Over time, that decline progresses to the point where it’s too hard for a family member to take care of them on their own.
That’s when the family starts to look for help. At first it may be hiring someone to care for their parents several hours a day. Then as the caregiver needs to stay longer and longer the expenses add up.
That’s when it’s time to look for Long Term Care. But what type of long term care?
Assisted Living
Assisted living can be the most affordable option for your loved one’s long term care needs. Especially in residential care homes such as the homes we have in Mesa, Goodyear and Surprise, Arizona. We pride ourselves on creating a family atmosphere with a maximum of 10 residents and a caregiver to resident ratio of 1:5 to even 1:3.
The other option can be to place your family member in a large long term care assisted living facility. Many of these facilities are beautiful and have lots of amenities. They may also have a full-time activity director on staff. With all these beautiful options, these facilities can be a little higher-priced. Generally they will be 40-100% higher cost than our residential homes. They may also have caregiver to resident ratios of 1:15 to 1:20.
Memory Care
Memory care is a specialized form of care for people who have disorders that affect cognitive function and memory. Memory care facilities have caregivers and other staff specially trained in how to work with people who have memory care issues. The facility is also more secure than a regular assisted living facility because there is a tendency for people with memory care to wander and not know where they are going.
Because people who have memory care issues require more intensive care, costs for long term memory care can be significantly more than regular assisted living. However, our homes are set up to handle both regular and assisted living residents. That helps keep the costs down. Only if there are combative behaviors will we recommend sending the resident to a full-blown memory care unit.
Here are several chronic diseases that may require memory care:
You could really call ‘Dementia Care’ memory care. There is not a specific disease called ‘Dementia’. Dementia is an umbrella term that covers a host of diseases that cause a reduction in someone’s memory or other cognitive impairment.
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease that causes damage to the cells in the brain. Around 80% of people classified with Dementia have Alzheimer’s disease. Early symptoms include forgetting new information, especially when trying to learn new things. As the disease advances, the person will experience confusion, be disoriented, and may have some behavior changes. We’ve seen all three. After a while, it becomes difficult to walk, swallow or talk.
As the symptoms become more severe, people need more focused long term care. Disorientation from Alzheimer’s may lead to a person wandering off, creating a hazard both for themselves and others. There is no known cure for Alzheimer’s, although progress is being made. That is why there is a need for long term care.
There’s also the risk of someone who has Sundowner’s syndrome. Sundowning happens when someone who has Alzheimer’s has trouble with their circadian rhythm. They may be tired during the day and then be wide awake and agitated at night. Sundowning can be very hard on family members who need some sleep themselves and can’t be up all night, every night with their loved one.
Lewy Bodies are lumps of protein that form in the brain and look like little balloons. These Lewy Bodies cause problems in the brain and manifest themselves in symptoms such as sleepwalking and acting out dreams, having hallucinations and having problems with focus and attentions. A person with Lewy Body Dementia will also move slowly, be very rigid and have tremors similar to someone with Parkinson’s Disease. Although much more rare than Alzheimer’s, people with Lewy Body still often need long term care.
Instead of protein bodies forming in your brain like Alzheimer’s and Lewy-Body Dementia, Vascular Dementia affects the blood vessels supplying your brain. Restricting the brain’s blood supply results in lack of focus, slowed thinking, and inability to problem solve. Memory is not affected as much as other forms of Dementia. However, many people still need the kind of long term care a memory care home can provide.
Due to the restricted blood flow, many people with Vascular Dementia are also more susceptible to strokes and other issues.
Frontotemporal Dementia occurs when nerve cells in the frontal and temporal regions of the brain and the connections between them break down. Those areas of the brain affect language, personality and behavior. So you can imagine the symptoms. You might see personality changes, behavioral changes, inability to speak their native language correctly. The way people think, make decisions and move may also be affected. Once again doctors will recommend long term care in many cases where people have Frontotemporal Dementia.
Family members who care for relatives with Dementia often have health issues of their own. They experience problems due to lack of sleep and stress. We’re here to help those family members. If the family lives around Phoenix, Arizona, or happens to be in the surrounding towns of Surprise, Arizona, Goodyear, Arizona or Mesa, we can help with their long term care needs. Maybe the family is out-of-state but their loved one lives near one of these communities? We can also help then. And we can do it at an affordable price.
Nichole Johnson
This is honestly one of the best homes I visit weekly. Always greeted with smiles and happiness. Home is always clean and comfortable. Residents are happy and occupied. Great comfort home by far.
Austin Wourms
This home is by far the best community home I have had the pleasure of working in. Laura is the captain of the ship and she runs the home to perfection. Laura really cares about all of the residents health and happiness and it shows. I see nothing smiling faces at this house. I highly recommend this facility to anyone needing a community home.
Terry E. Mills
This is a wonderful GH environment. Pt's are well cared for, Needs are met, I would recommend this home.