More and more elderly people are becoming a part of our society with each passing year. In fact, up to one third of our population will be considered to be elderly within the next ten years or so. This is due to the aging Baby Boomer generation, of which already many members have reached and surpassed that landmark age of 65. And with the growing number of elderly people in this country, there will most certainly be a push to meet their growing needs.
And these needs are likely to be significant. For though up to 90% of the elderly population wants to stay in their own homes for as long as possible, nearly three quarters of this same population (around 70%, to be just a bit more exact) will actually end up needing a good deal of long term care. The way that this long term care ultimately looks can range quite a bit and vary tremendously from person to person, but there is no doubting the fact that such care will be needed.
In some cases, retirement care of a long term manner will simply be needed due to a growing frailty. Such a thing is not uncommon or unheard of, as the body begins to become more and more fragile as the years pass on. After all, falls for elderly people can end up being hugely dangerous in a way that they are not for their younger counterparts. Falling slightly could lead to broken bones or even, in the most tragic cases, death. In fact, an elderly person is seen for fall related injuries in local emergency rooms all throughout the country on a basis of every 11 seconds that pass us by. Therefore, the danger of falls and being unable to safely navigate one’s own home is not something to be brushed aside for taken lightly by members of the elderly population and their loved ones.
Another need for long term care can stem from the diagnosis of dementia. Unfortunately, there are up to 100 different kinds of dementia that can be diagnosed in the elderly population, meaning that dementia cases are far from uncommon. It is Alzheimer’s disease, of course, that is most common of all, something that can be seen in the fact that it makes up more than 80% of all dementia cases seen throughout the country. But no matter what the kind of dementia that has been diagnosed is, all dementia has the potential to rob the person diagnosed of their independence.
In many cases, moving them to a place such as an assisted living home or memory care facility will be necessary. A secure memory care community can provide patients with safe and comfortable living in the way that in home care provided by a family member would not be able to do. So while many people might hesitate to move into a secure memory care community in the first place, they are likely to find that this secure memory care community is really not so bad after all – at least not in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, the importance of the secure memory care community is not one that should be underestimated by any means.
A secure memory care facility can just make life all that much easier for everyone involved. After all, the typical secure memory care community will provide round the clock monitoring, which will help to ensure that all residents are safe at all times, be they night or day. In this way, family members and loved ones can rest assured that the patient in question is being cared for well at the memory care facility in question. Ultimately, a secure memory care community can even help to bolster independence through providing help with day to day tasks and allowing independent action on tasks that do not require aid. As up to 40% of all residents of such facilities will need help with few basic activities on a day to day basis, this type of service is certainly important at just about every senior memory care community, to say the very least – and the demand is only growing ever higher.
