It’s never an easy decision, placing your senior parent into a long-term care facility. Nobody wants to give up their home that they’ve put their whole life into, and face the fact that they need ongoing help with their daily living. Sometimes, however, it becomes necessary, and when this does happen there are many choices available.

Two available options are a nursing home, or an assisted living community. There’s differences between these two, and understanding them is important when making that choice for long term care options for your aging loved ones. Explore the many differences between a nursing home and an assisted living facility, and how elder law attorneys can help you to protect your assets.

Nursing Home vs. Assisted Living

There are some core differences between nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Both are live-in communities that help seniors who aren’t able to live on their own anymore. However, that’s really where the similarities end. Assisted living communities are much more independent, while nursing homes provide a deeper level of care.

Assisted Living Communities

An assisted living community is for seniors who can’t live entirely on their own anymore, but still have their mental faculties intact and can still manage with a fair degree of independence. These are people who don’t need constant supervision or constant ongoing medical care. Some might have a nurse on staff, or a health clinic onsite, but the focus is just to help out with the daily tasks of living, dressing, eating, bathing, taking medication, and the like.

Assisted living communities also maintain a degree of privacy. Your loved one will likely have their own home or apartment within the community, so they can still maintain their preferred way of life overall.

Nursing Homes

Nursing homes, on the other hand, are intended for those seniors who simply can’t manage on their own anymore. These facilities take care of all of their residents’ basic needs. Many residents suffer from illnesses like Alzheimer’s or dementia, and many others are in a wheelchair or bed-bound. These are people who require around-the-clock medical care.

It’s worth noting that a nursing home doesn’t have to be a permanent placement. Some seniors go to nursing homes to convalesce from a major injury or ailment, before moving to an assisted living community or even back home if they’re capable of resuming independent living.

Elder Law Attorneys

If you’re looking at the need to place your parent in long-term care, whether nursing home or assisted living facility, you should work with elder law attorneys to protect their interests. From avoiding elder abuse to making sure you have the right trusts and estate planning in place, an elder law attorney can make sure that your loved one’s rights and assets are protected every step of the way.

If you’re in Cuyahoga County, OH, and you’re looking at the need to engage in estate planning, set up a living trust for paying long-term care bills, or avoid probate court when a loved one passes away, the elder law attorneys at Stano Law can help. Give us a call for a consultation today.