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Assisted Living Facility Services: Your Maintenance Checklist

assisted living facility services

assisted living facility services
As you get older, home maintenance just doesn’t seem as simple as it used to be. Tasks such as shoveling, mowing the lawn, and repairing the refrigerator used to be an annoyance, but as you age, they become menial at best and dangerous at worst. This makes them impossible to keep up with, and it’s one of the main reasons that many seniors begin their search for an assisted living facility; they simply cannot keep up with the work required to stay in their own homes.

But it can be overwhelming to look for assisted living facility services that fit your maintenance needs: everyone seems to be offering something different. One offers yard work, another offers grounds maintenance – what’s the difference, and what services do you really need?

Build Your Maintenance Checklist

The first step in choosing an assisted living facility should be to think about your own needs. Why are you moving to assisted living, and what are you going to need help with? Start by making your own maintenance checklist: including the essentials, things that would be nice to have, and other things that may not be maintenance-related but are just as important. We’ve provided suggestions for each category.

Essentials

Think about the services you just can’t live without. For most seniors, this will include the big stuff like mowing the lawn or shoveling snow; labor-intensive activities that you just can’t keep up with anymore. Even if you are physically capable of performing these types of tasks, they’re exhausting and take up too much time! Take some time to think about the tasks you’ve done in the past that you truly never want to do again, and put them on the list.

Our Suggested Essentials:

  • Grounds maintenance: mowing, mulching, snow & ice removal, landscaping
  • Building maintenance
  • Appliance repair, maintenance, and replacement
  • On-call maintenance staff to help when a problem arises

Nice-to-Haves

Once the big stuff is out of the way, start thinking about some of the smaller chores. Sure, you could spend your days vacuuming and dusting – but this is your retirement, isn’t it? You don’t want to spend it cooking and cleaning! When tedious maintenance tasks are out of the way, you’ll have more time to focus on the important things, like social events and activities. Consider these smaller “nice to have” maintenance services; these are the tasks that aren’t deal breakers – you could do them – but you’d prefer they be done by someone else.

Our Suggested Nice to Haves:

  • Cleaning/housekeeping services: vacuuming, dusting, etc.
  • Laundry
  • Linen services

Don’t Forget the Other Stuff!

Once you’ve created your detailed maintenance checklist, take the time to think beyond maintenance. If your assisted living facility washes your clothes but doesn’t do anything else, you may not be in the right place.

What are you looking to get out of your new home? A sense of community? Caring staff that will help you with medication reminders or just spend time with you? Assistance with personal care?

Add these items to your list. Yes, we know it’s your maintenance checklist – but this “other stuff” is just as (if not more) important!

Our Suggested Other Stuff:

  • Warm, caring staff
  • Social and educational activities
  • Delicious meals
  • Personal care services

What’s Normal?

Once you know what you want out of your assisted living facility, it’s time to begin looking. But what are you likely to find? What’s normal for a facility to provide?

You may need to do some digging to find this information. Reach out to potential assisted living facilities and ask questions – you don’t want to end up in the wrong place because you assumed they’d provide the services you need.

While no two assisted living facilities provide identical services, they typically provide:

  • Grounds maintenance
  • Building maintenance
  • Laundry services
  • Assistance with personal hygiene or other tasks
  • Meal services
  • Programs and activities

How Does Briarwood Stand Out?

At Briarwood, we strive to provide all of our residents with the care and services they need to feel comfortable and happy at our facility, and we believe in going above and beyond to make that happen. We understand the types of services that are essential for our residents, and we are happy to provide them.

Our groundskeeping services include tasks like lawn mowing, mulching, landscaping, and even gardening in the spring, summer, and fall months to keep the campus looking beautiful – and perfect for nice outdoor walks! In the winter, our maintenance staff takes care of snow and ice removal, including clearing off residents’ cars. Building maintenance is also provided to ensure our campus always looks great.

We provide all of our residences with appliances for their apartments, and our staff is on hand to address any problems that may arise with them. We provide weekly housekeeping services for our assisted living residents, and laundry and linen services are also taken care of.

Our assisted living facility services also include personal care. The level of care provided will depend on your individual needs, but our staff is on hand to assist with personal hygiene tasks such as dressing or showering as well as medication reminders and other necessary services.

But where we really stand out is with that “other stuff,” particularly our sense of community. The Briarwood staff is warm and welcoming, working to create an atmosphere all of our residents can feel comfortable with. Our staff goes the extra mile to connect with our residents, reminding them about upcoming meals or activities or even sitting with residents on our beautiful grounds. We provide activities and classes seven days a week to keep our residents happy and entertained, and meals served in our dining room provide an opportunity for residents to connect with their peers.

Are you wondering if a retirement community is right for you? We’d love to talk with you about your needs and the senior living options available to you. Download our free eBook, Preparing for and Finding a Retirement Community, to help you get started with downsizing, finding the right place, and more!

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