Assisted Living Utah Blog

Some of the activities that you can expect from an assisted living facility would surprise you. Many people have hear of the Wii. Residents love this interactive game which allows them to golf, bowl, and a host of other games. Typical activities in a day might start with morning exercises and then some card playing. Then they typically do a scenic drive at least 1-2 times in a week where they’ll drive up the canyon to see the changing colors. Other days they might go out to Ice Berg to get a shake or go out to a movie with a small group. Usually once a week there is transportation provided to go shopping to WalMart or Target (depending on residents’ choice). In the afternoon there is typically entertainment from someone playing the piano, singing, or playing some other instrument. Cooking demonstrations get out a very good portion of the residents where they can try great recipes and mingle with their friends of the community.
For more detailed advice, visit us at AssistedLivingUtah.com. Don’t hesitate to call us either. We do not charge you anything for advice and we don’t try to sell anything to you. I guarantee it. Call (801) 492-4115 or toll free (866) 979-9989. You can also email us at Admin@AssistedLivingUtah.com.

Assisted living is a great field to work in. If you enjoy being around your grandparents, you’ll love working in elder care field; especially assisted living. Is it hard work? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Every minute of it. I used to work at a bank going through college and it was great job, but if I had known that I could have worked in this industry as at the front desk or as a server in the kitchen, I would have done it in a heart beat. The residents in assisted living are so grateful for the smallest act of kindness shown to them.

The pay is not very lucrative as an employee in assisted living; however, the benefits outweigh this. Working in an assisted living community in Utah is the best because the local community is so involved and willing to serve the residents of all communities. Having worked outside of Utah, I can attest to the validity of this. The employees are more caring, harder workers, and better skilled at what they do. As an administrator, staffing has been much easier to deal with in Utah.

As a C.N.A. in assisted living within Utah, usually you work an 8 hour shift (whether it’s AM, PM, or NOC/Night). A.M. shifts run from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. usually. The PM shift goes from roughly 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. and the NOC shift typically runs from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. the next day. Assisted living communities are open 24/7 so yes, there are times that C.N.A.s have to work on a holiday (which is typically compensated very well) and yes, weekends are often required at least once to twice per month.

The days fly by and we laugh with the residents, we cry with the residents and their families, and yes, we do see residents that pass away in assisted living. In assisted living type II, we are usually able to care for all resident needs and rarely have to send them to a skilled nursing facility. So we grow attached to the residents and it’s hard for us when we lose someone that we’ve come to love and serve so much. For those that are good employees, you most likely have to pick up the slack for the "not-so-good-employees." Meaning, if someone calls in sick often, you’ll be asked to pitch in and cover the shift to make sure the residents get the care they need and deserve.

All in all, it’s a great industry to be in. The baby boomers are here and coming so there will always be plenty of work to go around. Life as an employee in assisted living in Utah is great.

Assisted living facilities offer the elderly a place to live outside of their own home where they can receive basic assistance in the form one or more of the following: housekeeping, meal preparation, 24-7 monitoring, shower assistance, toileting, medication assistance or reminders, transportation, eating, dressing, activities, socialization, etc. Other synonymous terms for assisted living could be residential care, board and care, senior living, etc. In assisted living, your loved one will likely have their own apartment unless you or your loved one consents to sharing a room with someone. A private bathroom is most often in the apartment to allow for privacy and dignity. Most facilities will have a kitchenette in the apartment with a sink, microwave, refrigerator, and cupboard space. Each apartment will likely be climate controlled individually. There will be access to common areas such as a t.v. room, an activity room, dining room, library, sitting areas, etc.

Assisted living facilities vary in size. In what is termed a small assisted living facility, you will have 16 or fewer apartments/rooms (much like a residential home). In what is called a large facility, you will have more than16 apartments/rooms and up to over 100 apartments/rooms. A typical day for your loved one in an assisted living facility could be that she (we’ll assume it’s your mother or grandma) will wake up Monday morning around 6:45 and receive assistance for a shower (which she receives on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) from the aide that she now knows and feels comfortable with. Breakfast will be available in the dining room (where she will usually be given her morning medication as needed) beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 9:00 a.m. So she can make her way down there when it’s convenient between that 1 ½ hours. If she wants to have someone help her down there because she is too weak or she doesn’t remember how to get there, she can push her pendant/call light and an aide will arrive within a few short minutes to assist her. Morning exercises will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the activity room where she will do some stretches, leg lifts, rubber-band stretches, pole raises, etc. Card playing is directly after morning exercises so she will stay in the activity room to play UNO, Sevens, or another simple game with other residents. At 10:30 a.m. she can choose to take a scenic drive in the facility’s van that has a wheelchair lift, read the paper or a book near the fireplace in the lobby, or return to her room to watch her favorite television program. Lunch will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. after which she might return to her apartment (which is completely furnished with her personal belongings) to rest for a little while. At 2:00 p.m. there will be a cooking demonstration on how to make chocolate covered bananas either from a staff member or volunteer (the facility would love to have a family member be the one to do the cooking demo on a family’s favorite treat). At 3:00 p.m. a concert pianist will be coming to perform on the grand piano in the activity room and this might last 45 minutes. Dinner begins to be served at 4:30 p.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. so she can arrive anytime before 6:00 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., after you’ve gotten off work and had dinner with the kids, you stop by to see what your mother did for the day and she is too tired to even talk about. Actually, she can pick and choose which activities draw her attention more and only attend those. All in all, assisted living is a great option for seniors who are either unable to care for some of their basic needs or who just want to have someone to be around for a good time. If you’re searching for an assisted living facility in Utah, you’ll want to visit us online for several reasons.

Don’t hesitate to call us either. We do not charge you anything for advice and we don’t try to sell anything to you. I guarantee it. Call (801) 492-4115 or toll free (866) 979-9989. You can also email us at Admin@AssistedLivingUtah.com.

There are close to 100 Nursing Homes (properly named Skilled Nursing Facilities) in the state of Utah. For a comlplete list of nursing homes in Utah, please visit the following link…

http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/

DataSection/Questions/HomeSelect.asp

A Nursing home in Utah is a facility where someone would go to if they needed 24 hour care from a registered/licensed nurse and/or to receive rehabilitation from a licensed therapist. The way that most elderly people would enter in a nursing home is because of a fall that caused them to go to the hospital where they might stay for 3-5 days and then be discharged to a skilled nursing facility. The hospital will simply stabilize you and maybe do the knee or hip surgery and then send you to a nursing home where you would get rehab from a physical therapist, occupational therapist, or speech therapist onsite (depending on the need and doctor’s orders). The nursing home costs will most likely be covered by Medicare up to 100 days with a co-pay of 20% after the first 20 days of your stay. Then if you are still unsafe to go home alone, you would either move in with family, get someone to come into your home as needed (which can be very costly for someone to come 24/7), or move to an assisted living center (properly known as assisted living facility). You can usually continue to receive what is called Home Health either at home or at the assisted living facility. This is an agency that again, is paid by Medicare 100% but without a co-pay currently. Home Health will provide continued therapy as needed (usually up to 6 weeks). For a more detailed consultation, contact me at anytime. I get reimbursed by assisted living facilities for providing you with information regarding assisted living in Utah.

For more detailed advice, visit us at AssistedLivingUtah.com. Don’t hesitate to call us either. We do not charge you anything for advice and we don’t try to sell anything to you. I guarantee it. Call (801) 492-4115 or toll free (866) 979-9989. You can also email us at Admin@AssistedLivingUtah.com.

This is a very important question, especially when your loved one requires a lot of care. I actually used to work in a skilled nursing facility as the administrator and now I work in an assisted living community as an administrator, so I’ve seen how the two work. If your loved one is completely incontinent (unable to control his/her bowel and bladder) and is unable to self feed, this may seem like someone that needs to be in a skilled nursing facility; however, this is not always the case. A person with these needs can easily be in an assisted living community. At my assisted living community, we have a memory care unit where about 30% of the residents require assistance with eating and who are also incontinent (who we may change every 2-3 hours). The families of these residents highly prefer assisted living as compared to a skilled nursing facility because of the atmosphere, cost, etc. It is much more home-like as opposed to a hospital-like facility like many skilled nursing facilities are. The point where your loved one would need and the state would require them to be in skilled nursing would be if they require skilled care from an RN such as one or more of the following: regular injections (if it’s only occasionally, the assisted living community can often offer this with the Registered Nurse on staff), a feeding tube, IV, or other skilled need. Also, if the resident requires assistance from two or more people to evacuate in case of an emergency, then the state says they cannot be in an assisted living community and thus would require a skilled nursing facility.

If you’re looking for an assisted living facility in Utah, you’ll want to go through AssistedLivingUtah.com. It makes it much easier to choose the right facility for you and your loved one.

For more detailed advice, visit us at AssistedLivingUtah.com. Don’t hesitate to call us either. We do not charge you anything for advice and we don’t try to sell anything to you. I guarantee it. Call (801) 492-4115 or toll free (866) 979-9989. You can also email us at Admin@AssistedLivingUtah.com.