Does anyone know about the experience of single PWPs in the "assisted
living" sections of life-care retirement centers? Living alone at 66/3, I'm
doing OK (still working three days a week), but the disease is "progressing"
[I hate that term] and the need for assistance is foreseeable.
I've visited a few life-care retiremeent centers which offer three levels
of care. One is independent living (that's where you start). At the other
end is the "medical center", which is essentially a nursing home. But there's
an in-between level (or levels) usually called "assisted living." These
intermediate levels apparently enable some residents to postpone the medical
center, sometimes for years.
:"Assisted lliving" seems to mean different things at diffeerent centers,
and I'm not sure what to look for. Is it pracitcal at all to generalize about
how much assistance a PWP is likely to require? And how frequently? For
example, if a center offers assistance for an hour or two each morning and
evening , would many PWPs find that enough? Or do caregivers find themselves
needed so frequently, or at such unpredictable intervals, that they must be on
call all the time?
Perhaps this is an unanswerable question, but I'd appreciate any
suggestions from experienced caregivers. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Jack Noble
