A Place In The Sun

A nursing home is normally the highest level of care for older adults outside of a hospital. Assisted living emerged in the 1990s as an eldercare alternative on the continuum of care for seniors for whom Independent living is no longer appropriate but who do not need the 24-hour medical care provided by a nursing home. Assisted living comes by many names, such as residential care, board and care, or group homes. A nursing home may be a good choice if both medical and personal care needs have become too great to handle at home. The usual retirement home pattern is that each person or couple in the home has an apartment-style room or suite of rooms. A place in a retirement home can be paid for on a rental basis, like an apartment, or can be bought in perpetuity on the same basis as a condominium. Assisted living emerged in the 1990s as an eldercare alternative on the continuum of care for seniors for whom Independent living is no longer appropriate but who do not need the 24-hour medical care provided by a nursing home. Independent Living Communities enable residents to live as independently as possible, while providing certain services and social activities.