Essential Daily Living Support in Assisted Living

Feeding America shared a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistic saying almost seven million seniors suffered food insecurity in 2022. The website states reasons for food insecurity, including:

  • Transportation issues
  • Health conditions
  • Fixed income
  • Social isolation
  • Race and discrimination

These issues are all problematic, but our article focuses on how health conditions interfere with daily care routines -- specifically, activities of daily living (ADLs). However, a daily living checklist can help.

Listing daily care routines helps carers stay on task and increases residents' quality of life in assisted living. Below we discuss the ADL checklist, spotting when loved ones need aid, and how assisted living helps.

Daily Living Checklist: Learning About the ADLs

Activities of daily living are things included in a person's daily care routine. These are things done when getting ready for the day or winding down at night and include:

  • Personal care and hygiene
  • Dressing
  • Eating
  • Toileting and continence
  • Mobility

Personal care and hygiene refer to being able to groom oneself. Bathing, dental hygiene, hair, and nail care are part of basic daily grooming. Dressing is the ability to choose and physically put on clothing alone.

Eating is mostly self-explanatory, it's the ability to feed oneself -- this doesn't include shopping or food prep. Toileting and continence refer to the ability to go to the bathroom alone and bladder and bowel control.

Mobility is the ability to move from place to place. For example, a person without mobility issues can get in and out of their favorite chair independently.

The Link Between Mobility and Eating

Our earlier points about medical conditions making food assessability difficult and eating may seem confusing. You might ask how medical conditions make getting food hard if it doesn't involve eating.

There are, after all, many physiological and health conditions that make eating hard. Depression, dementia, cancer, and heart disease are a few illnesses that can affect eating.

Mobility is what we were alluding to in the introduction. Many seniors have issues moving due to medical complications and cannot physically shop.

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living: What Are They?

Think of instrumental activities of daily living, or IADLs, as more nuanced ADLs. IADLs are daily tasks related to organization and complex thinking skills.

You may notice your loved ones having difficulty completing IADLs before typical ADLs. Instrumental activities of daily living include:

  • Using technology to communicate
  • Financial management
  • Shopping
  • Meal preparation
  • Housework
  • Medication management

"Using technology to communicate" includes traditional mail, email, and the internet. Financial management refers to your loved ones' capacity to pay bills on time, budgeting, and asset management.

Shopping refers to one's ability to buy essentials, like food and clothing. Meal preparation involves all steps in cooking, including cleaning up.

Housework involves chores required to keep one's home tidy and organized. Performing housework also includes home maintenance.

The final IADL is medication management, which means your loved ones take their medicines as directed. Proper medication management suggests a person can reliably refill their prescriptions on time.

How Can I Spot When My Aging Loved One Needs Help?

Do not go into any discussion associated with elderly support services with patronizing behavior -- even if they have some form of dementia. Your loved ones should always have some say in their abilities.

Be open and caring so they willingly share when their needs change. People should feel empowered even if they need help with assisted living tasks.

That said, there will be signs your loved one needs help. Here are the signs:

  • They appear to have bruising that may come from a fall
  • They appear disheveled
  • Their home appears disorganized
    • Chores they often do are left undone
  • They're experiencing weight changes
  • There are unpaid bills or purchases that don't fit into their budget
  • They're experiencing mood changes
  • They're forgetting appointments or are otherwise forgetful
  • They've lost interest in hobbies or things that brought them joy

Accounting for Difficulty Levels

There are differing difficulty levels among people and ADLs (and IADLs). Just because someone has trouble with one of these tasks doesn't mean they need huge life changes to accommodate them.

Your grandparent can have issues with zippers and buttons, but still be able to dress themselves. You can change this with a simple wardrobe update.

Some people may have issues with reading emails, but it could be a matter of the font being too small. You can enlarge the phone or computer font size or look into reading glasses.

Your neighbor's father may not be able to drive at night, but can otherwise live alone. Your mother may not have the dexterity to use cutlery. Remember to stay sensitive to any changes your loved ones experience.

How Can Assisted Living Communities Help?

Assisted living communities can aid your loved ones by helping with ADLs. There's always someone on standby to help with bathing, grooming, toileting, etc.

Unlike when a family cares for loved ones, the community staff will have proper training. They'll know how to move residents from their beds to chairs and bathe them.

Trained staff are often on hand to help with medication management -- something more complex than it sounds. Yes, part of medication management is reliably taking prescription drugs by oneself.

However, assisted living community staff will communicate with residents' doctors and monitor interactions. The most important part of these elderly support services is the daily living checklist.

No two residents will have the same problems with the same ADLs and IADLs. Each person's list is individualized based on information from the residents, their families, and medical advice.

Staff are trained to help with daily care routines. Most importantly, they can offer aid, while allowing your loved ones their dignity.

Why Residential Care Guides Matter

A daily living checklist is a residential care guide that tells staff what needs to be done for which boarder. It tells them who needs mobility aid or which residents have problems eating or grooming.

The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights offers assisted living elderly support services to help your loved ones through their twilight years. They will receive these alongside:

  • Housekeeping services
  • 24/7 associate support
  • Move-in coordination
  • Preventive Health Screenings and Education

We aim to keep your loved ones healthy and happy during their stay with us. Get in touch for a personalized quote or for questions you'd like answered.

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