Why Is a Continuum of Care Important When Considering a Senior Living Community?
July 26, 2024
If you’ve been looking into various senior living options, whether for yourself or a family member, then you’ve probably come across the term “continuum of care.” Depending on the context, the term can have different, but related, meanings.
Let’s start by defining the term in general, and then we’ll take a look at the benefits of selecting a senior living community that offers a full continuum of care.
Continuum of Care Definition
The continuum of care in health care refers to a spectrum of care and services that meet a person’s changing needs over time.
To see how the term applies to senior living, it helps to take a step back and look at the continuum of care meaning in a broader context.
What Is the Health Continuum?
Essentially, the health continuum refers to the entire range of a person’s health, from a high level of wellness to a severe loss of health. This can occur within a specific health episode or as part of the aging process.
With people living longer, on average, there’s a greater emphasis on taking a holistic approach to care (including self-care) that promotes positive, or healthy, aging.
We embrace this holistic approach at Emerald Heights. Our on-site services and amenities focus on seven aspects of wellness to encourage healthy aging:
- Social
- Emotional
- Spiritual
- Environmental
- Vocational
- Physical
- Intellectual
At Emerald Heights, residents have opportunities every day to support their health and well-being through a variety of educational classes, social events, recreational activities, fitness programs and cultural experiences.
The Continuum of Care in Senior Living Communities
If you take the concept of the health continuum and apply it to a residential community for older adults, you can see how residents’ needs for care might change over time.
New residents might start out in the community’s independent living neighborhood. Their health is on the “positive” end of the spectrum, and they’re able to engage in their usual routines without help.
As time goes by, they may find it more challenging to manage daily activities such as getting dressed or bathing. Maybe they’ve had a health issue that has affected their mobility or dexterity. Or perhaps they’ve experienced some cognitive impairment. At some point they decide it’s time to transition to the community’s assisted living or memory care neighborhood.
Some residents may need skilled nursing care after a hospital stay or on a long-term basis. Others might require rehabilitation therapy while recovering from an injury or illness.
Communities like Emerald Heights that offer a combination of or all these services are known as Life Care communities. You might also hear them referred to as continuing care retirement communities, or CCRCs.
The Advantages of Choosing a Community That Offers a Continuum of Care
This is probably the most obvious benefit of choosing a senior living community with a full continuum of care: If you need a higher level of care later on, you can stay in your own community, where the staff and your surroundings are familiar, and your friends and neighbors are close by.
Life Care communities provide financial benefits, as well.
At Emerald Heights, if you join us as an independent living resident, you’re assured access to long-term skilled nursing care or short-term rehabilitation for as long as you’re part of our community. And, these services are available with no increase in your monthly service fee.
This predictability protects you from the rising cost of long-term health care, no matter what level of care you may need down the road—or how long you might need it.
If you join Emerald Heights directly for assisted living (instead of starting in independent living), you’re still assured access to these same advanced levels of care, but at current service level market rates which is a fraction of what you would pay at a typical assisted living or memory care community.
By choosing a community with a continuum of care, you’ll have a plan in place for accessing advanced care you might need down the road. You’ll be preventing a scenario in which you might have to make a hasty decision under less-than-ideal circumstances. This can give you and your family tremendous peace of mind.
A special consideration for couples.
Older couples have an additional incentive for choosing a retirement community with a continuum of care. If one spouse or partner ends up needing a higher level of care than the other—which happens quite often—they can still be close to each other and continue to enjoy the campus amenities.
The situation may be temporary, such as when one partner needs skilled nursing care after being in the hospital. Or, it could be a longer-term arrangement. Either way, spending time together is easier when there’s no driving involved.
A Different Way to Age in Place
Most seniors say they want to stay in their home as they get older. But so often, the house they’ve lived in for many years, maybe several decades, gets to be more than they can manage on their own.
Rather than waiting until life forces them to make a change, making an early decision to move into a senior living community that offers a continuum of care makes it easier and safer for older adults to stay in a familiar setting as they age. They’re still part of the community they know and enjoy, and help is readily available if they want or need it.
Life Care at Emerald Heights
Ready to learn more about the benefits of Life Care and the continuum of care at Emerald Heights? We’re here to answer your questions.
Want to come have a look around? Even better!
Contact us to arrange a visit or call 866-822-0916.
Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A / Shutterstock
