Supportive Living in Alberta

Every retirement home in Alberta offers different services and amenities, some focusing mainly on extended care, while assisted living care focuses on adults who want help with some basic daily needs. Care offered here might include:

• Three daily meals that are served in a common dining room
• Housekeeping
• Arranged or scheduled transportation
• Personal laundry
• Recreational activities, like shuffleboard or bingo
• Brain fitness games to keep your mind healthy and active
• Emergency call bell or phone systems, as well as twenty-four hour security

Supportive living care for Alberta seniors

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Specifics of supportive living services and care

Supportive living (assisted living, as it is called elsewhere) is a specified level of care, distinct from others like independent living, on one hand, or memory care on another. In Alberta, communities like those above are licensed under Supportive Living Accommodation Licensing Act, and meet Supportive Living Accommodation Standards.

This level of seniors' care will include basic services such as communal dining, housekeeping of private suites or units and administration of medication. On top of that, though, there are specific care options available, often tailored to the needs of each senior in residence and provided under contract with Alberta Health Services. 

Some typical care options offered in supportive living are as follows:

• Transfer assistance and mobility assistance. For seniors who may have some form of disability or other problems with mobility, assisted living facilities have trained staff to aid with movement including in-suite and out.
• Incontinence care is dedicated care that deals intelligently and thoroughly with this often-embarrassing issue. Residents are treated with the utmost dignity by professional care staff who are trained to be both caring and objective.
• Bathing and dressing assistance may be separately costed out by homes in some cases, but both of these aspects are handled with understanding. 

Help with bathing or showering, dressing, walking, going to the bathroom, eating, or leaving the home is perhaps really the heart of what is offered in assistance living homes. This is the kind of round-the-clock care that simply cannot be given on a consistent basis by family members or even hired-in home care or personal service workers. These care requirements are very difficult for many people to admit, especially those who have grown up and lived all their lives valuing independence and self-reliance. The delicacy with which homes deal with this issue is one of the great benefits of opting into an assisted living residence.

Read Calgary retirement home reviews and make a fully informed decision.

Added benefits of supportive living

• Companionship — While you could choose to live quietly and privately at an assisted living home, you may also surround yourself with other people. Meals and activities are a great opportunity to engage with other residents and make friends. You need not be lonely at an assisted living facility.
• Keeping busy — Unlike your own home, an assisted living home offers plenty of planned programs and amenities, like wellness centers that help seniors stay mentally and physically active.
• Safety and Security — On-site staff are a well equipped to promptly deal with emergencies at all hours of the day and night. Though residents live independently when they choose to, they also have peace of mind, as they know that someone will always be around to help them if something goes wrong. Moreover, unlike one’s own home, assisted living facilities have round the clock security, so residents should feel safe.
• You need not maintain your own home anymore! Is one of your lamps malfunctioning? Do not worry. You can call maintenance personnel in your assisted living home and they will take care of it. Indeed, life here is a lot less stressful than it would be in your own home.
• Many assisted living homes allow pets.

Costs of supportive living in Alberta

Private retirement residences in Alberta's major cities, Calgary and Edmonton, offer high quality service and care. Some government-funded care homes may be cheaper, but the care offered in private homes entails a higher resident-to-staff ratio (as low as 5 to 1 in some residences) and much more accountability. Here is an overview of the cost range you may face in paying for private senior assistance homes:

We offer a more detailed look at this under supportive living costs in Alberta. 

Alberta, ideal location for retirement living

Simply put, Alberta is an ideal province for any type of retirement living. Here, you may choose to live in the midst of nature, as the Rocky Mountains, luscious forests, beautiful lakes, and breathtaking parks are ubiquitous. You may find such an environment both soothing and relaxing. Alberta also contains plenty of lively cities and North America’s largest shopping mall — the West Edmonton Mall. The lifestyle choices that you have in Alberta will ensure that your outings outside of your assisted living home are enjoyable.

Alberta's use of the distinct term 'supportive living' refers to the same essential care level described as assisted living in many other parts of North America. Alberta's vulnerable seniors are covered under the Protection for Persons in Care Act. You can read more from the government of Alberta.

Alberta also offers the more closely pertinent Supportive Living Accommodation Licensing Act (enforced in April 2010). This is a comprehensive act that offers specific prescriptions governing care homes licensing, inspections and much more. Inspectors can check the accounts of the home, test food, take photographs and much more. Residents can register complaints and have these followed up under provisions of the Act, and allows for the possibility of revoking the license, as well as fines up to $100,000.  Learn more at Acts S23P5.

Checking out retirement homes with your loved one

Many people of a certain age and generation are very proud of their self-reliance and independence and may "never want to move into one of those homes." However, there may come a time when your loved one requires the kind of help available only in an assisted living home. Peer acceptance is one of the best ways to convince older adults that moving into a senior care home is not as bad as they might think. Over the years, Comfort Life has profiled many seniors who were surprised at what they could afford, surprised at how much they enjoyed life inside a retirement residence, learned new things they never thought they would and maybe even found new love. 

Homes listed here offer exceptional care and delightful environments that routinely change seniors' minds about what a retirement home is like and what it is like to live in seniors care. Assisted living homes can come with a wide variety of excellent features that both surprise and delight residents. Today's senior homes can include lounges, cafes, pubs, libraries, general stores, exercise areas and the list goes on. Seniors in these homes are vibrant and active with a healthy attitude toward life and living. We urge you to go out and see the homes with your loved one to see firsthand how great "retirement community" really can be.