My 97-year-old mother entered assisted living five years ago. She has dementia and has been hospitalized twice in the last six months; once for COVID and once for a bowel blockage. She survived both, but not well. The problem is with her current AL. The AL is unable to keep a director for very long. Most leave after a year and one only stayed a month. They have also lost staff, like many of these facilities, and hire temporary workers to fill in the blanks. We currently have private care coming into the AL to help her at night due to staffing challenges and lack of leadership at the AL (the director recently left). I think she should be moved to a different, more stable assisted living community, or directly into memory care at another facility. My concern is that a move will drive her farther down hill. Have you done this, and has it completely destabilized your loved one or did they adjust after a while?
They transitioned my mom over a two week period. They took her to memory care and she spent the day there in the social room and with the other memory care residents during meal times. After she had a couple of weeks of doing that, I moved her things into a memory care room and then she never left. It was a smooth transition and she never knew the difference. Her room had all of her familiar things in it and she continued dining with the same folks she had been with for weeks.
As for AL vs MC, I would talk to the facility. Different facilities have different requirements/guidelines for MC and AL.
For MC, nearly all of them lock down the floors. What I found is that sometimes, MC is more economical than AL because of all the services that are considered part of MC which are not part of AL, like bathing and medication management. Supposedly, MC floors also have activities that stimulate the mind (e.g. swatting a balloon with a fly swatter) versus AL programs which might be more passive (e.g. watching a movie).
Forget worrying about destabilization. You need to find a facility that you believe in. Your Mom is looking to you for clues.
She was in AL but they did not have 24-hour staff (no one was there overnight).
I moved her into Memory Care at the same facility because the MC unit offered 24-hour attendants. She didn't like it in Memory Care because it was a locked unit. I plan on moving her to another facility in June when her lease is up on the Memory Care unit.
If her facility provides progressive (stepped up?) care, you may be able to request that she be evaluated and considered for memory care or skilled nursing, both of which represent significantly increased care than typical assisted living situations.
Unless you have already found a care site that has committed to offering a better set of circumstances to meet her needs, you might find her in a situation similar to what she’s already living in, then combined with a drastic and potentially disorienting change.
”Assisted Living”, however “stable” according to your comments, does not seem to realistically reflect her care needs at this stage in her life.
My mom lived in an assisted living facility until her decline was too much for the AL. Even though they did their best, it just wasn't enough for her needs and it was hard for them too. I moved her with me. I thought it was really going to impact the decline but I was surprised that she adjusted well. I was able to give her the care she needed. I understand it's not what everyone can do, which is why I think a memory care facility/unit would be best. I hope this helps.
Your mother at that age, there is no way of telling what would or would not affect her, she is very old.
I would bypass AL go direct to MC.