Council on Aging Answers 2016 - 61

COUNCIL ON AGING - ORANGE COUNTY

within her new assisted living apartment. The bedroom in her assisted living apartment was made to
look just like her bedroom at home; her reading glasses and a Bible were on the nightstand, all the photos
were in just the right places; it was a perfect reconstruction. The living room was similarly cloned."
Make sure your parent has input about keepsakes to
bring to the new home.

The key, Dr. Stote
says, is that seniors
who are relocating
"need positive
reassurance that
they are moving
into a new chapter
of their lives."

5 Tips for Easing the
Transition
Seniors will best adjust to their
new home with some support and
encouragement from family members during the senior's first days
and weeks at the senior community. The key, Dr. Stote says, is that
seniors who are relocating "need positive reassurance
that they are moving into a new chapter of their lives,
rather than ending the life they have always known."
Here is some simple advice about how to help your
older parent adjust to a move to assisted living:

Take your parent to visit the community
as often as possible before the move. After
your family has selected a senior living community,
take your parent to visit frequently before the move.
Attend meals and events that allow your parent to become familiar with the residents, staff, and layout of
the community. This will make the community and
everyone who lives and works there seem less foreign
when your parent eventually does move-in.

Bring personal items and duplicate aspects of their old home in their new living
space. In a recent post about my own grandmother's
transition to assisted living, I described a tactic that
seemed to help her feel more at home in her new
apartment: "Her home was practically replicated

Coax your parent to participate in activities. Even
elderly people can have a "toocool-for-school" attitude and be
dismissive of assisted living activities. But your parent is likely to adjust well if she or he gets involved
with activities and makes some
friends at the community. Assisted
living communities tend to have a
wide variety of activities, so while
not all of them will necessarily
be appealing to your loved one,
there's bound to be some that do.

Encourage your parent
to help out at the community. Many assisted living communities have
resident volunteers that take on roles at the community such as answering phones, running an onsite
store, managing the library, or sponsoring a club.
When residents feel useful and as though they have
a purpose, it can improve their outlook and help immensely with the transition.

Allow your parent to be independent.
While the tips we outlined above can help your
older parent transition, don't become too protective
or feel as though you need to be with them all the
time during the transition, as this can be counterproductive. Visiting during often during the first days
after the move does help make sure your loved one
doesn't feel abandoned, but refrain from taking this
too far, as excessive "handholding" could prevent
your parent from successfully adapting to her or his
new home.
Reprinted with permission from AssistedLiving.com

Council On Aging-Orange County | 714-479-0107 | www.coaoc.org Answers Guide 2016

HOUSING

justing to assisted living, and take to it from day one.
And the seniors that initially find the transition difficult usually adapt quickly, and often come to recognize that aspects of assisted living that bothered them
are actually beneficial. Residents find it to be a great
relief to downsize and not worry about things like
housekeeping or steep stairs. The dozens of strangers encountered during the first
days quickly become friends and
companions. And for seniors who
moved not altogether willingly,
their feelings of abandonment and
betrayal often turn into feelings of
gratitude based on the recognition
that their family members were
acting out of love when they arranged the move.

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