Why You Should Tour Assisted Living Communities Before Making a Choice
Assisted living communities are becoming a popular living arrangement for seniors looking for comfort and care in one place. However, when you search for assisted care homes near you, you may end up with numerous options, and you won’t be able to tell them apart without physically touring.
When you’re looking for a new home, you visit the property and see all the details in person, such as the size of the rooms, safety features, and neighborhood. Right? Similarly, when you plan to move to an assisted living community, you need to tour every community to know which one is the best fit for you.
In this post, we’ll discuss four benefits of touring assisted care communities before making the final decision.
Top 4 Benefits of Touring Assisted Living Communities Before Choosing One
1. See All the Details In-Person
While you can find most of the information about an assisted living community online with a few clicks, you can’t choose the right one without seeing all its offerings in person.
Assisted care homes offer a range of amenities and services, including housekeeping and maintenance, light linen services, scheduled transport, medication management, daily activity assistance, and many more. When you visit each community, you can assess the quality of their amenities and services.
More importantly, touring a community will help you assess the cleanliness. Are the floor plans clean and fresh, or do you see visible dirt and clutter? Are staff members promoting hygiene and truly helping seniors, or are they cold and strict and maintaining just the bare minimum?
You won’t find these details on any assisted care community’s website. However, a short tour will give you a clear insight into what it will be like living in each community you visit.
2. Meet and Interact with Staff
The best part about touring an assisted care home is that you get to meet and interact with the staff members who are your potential caregivers. While amenities like a gym, game rooms, and beautiful walking paths are important, staffing is always the heart of any senior living community.
The quality of your retirement life will significantly depend on how well the staff members receive you every day. While qualifications are important for staff caregivers, you need to seek qualities like empathy and kindness.
When touring assisted living communities, you can talk to the staff members and see if they’re friendly and welcoming. However, during your visit, they might be extra sweet to you, seeing you as a potential resident.
The best way to gauge their kindness is to observe how they interact with the residents. Do they stop and greet every resident in the hallway? Do they respond with a soft tone when anyone asks for assistance? These little observations can help you know a lot about the staff of any senior living community.
3. Assess the Culture and Ambiance
You may find ample pictures and videos of any assisted care homes on the web. However, you will not be able to tell the culture and ambiance just by looking at pictures. Touring the community will help you feel the atmosphere and experience the culture before making the final call.
Sometimes, seniors skip the touring process and choose what they feel is the best option for them, which most of the times lead them to a wrong match. While most assisted care communities offer a great culture and ambiance for seniors to soak in comfortably, it’s important to find one that suits your needs and preferences.
For instance, if you prefer to spend your time in a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, you may find a happy, active, and energetic place to be loud and chaotic. Therefore, it’s best to tour the community and experience what it will be like living there before making the move.
4. Experience the Culinary Service
No brochure can tell how tasty and nourishing the food is unless you actually experience it. Culinary services may greatly vary from one community to another, which is why touring each community and experiencing the range of menus will help you tick the one that offers your favorite meals.
Some older adults stick to basic meat, potatoes, and hearty American cuisines, while others prefer a diverse menu option and meals from all over the world.
Moreover, when you tour an assisted care community, you can talk to the culinary team and ask any food-related queries you have, whether you want to know if they’ll cater to your special dietary needs or if they use fresh, seasonal, and regional ingredients.
Looking for a Vibrant and Thriving Assisted Care Home? Schedule a Tour at Asher Point Senior Living of Austin Today
Moving to a senior retirement community is one of the most important decisions of your life, so it’s essential to visit the community before making a choice. Located at 11279 Taylor Draper Lane, Asher Point Senior Living of Austin is within the proximity of all life essentials, including healthcare providers, shopping centers, eateries, and natural attractions.
Schedule a tour and join us today to learn more about our offerings, culture, and lifestyle our residents enjoy.