Lifestyle & Care Options To Suit Your Needs

Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs): One Move For All Of Your Senior Care

Considering the continuing care retirement communities definition, we could best describe it as a community that provides accommodation for independent living, assisted living, and nursing home care. Life in a continuing care retirement community allows an adult to enjoy the remainder of their life in a CCRC – this is sometimes called a life plan community – as the resident requires it, they can move through the various levels of care.

As a whole, we want to age in place; in other words, we want to spend the old part of our life at home. However, since continuing care retirement community healthcare provides such a wide range of levels of care in one place – it allows for a different type of aging in the area – even though residents are not living in their original residence.

When it comes to trends continuing care retirement community options mean that people only need to move once. The area they may need to move to will be different, but the place will be the same. Hence when looking for the best continuing care retirement community, it is crucial to take a good look at the services they offer and the pros and cons, the price, and the contractual agreement that residents are under.

What Is A Continuing Care Retirement Community?

By definition, it is a retirement community that provides many different care types on one campus, independent living, assisted living, and nursing home care.

There are different types of continuing care retirement communities: clusters, duplexes, apartments, cottages, townhouses, and houses.

The typical features of a CCRC are:

• Dining room for all

• Activity center

• Outdoor recreation area which will likely include a swimming pool

• Socal activities such as outings to a museum

Various Names Given To CCRCs Such As Lifecare Communities

Various names exist for CCRCs, such as:

• Continuing care communities

• Lifecare communities

• Lifetime communities

• Life plan communities

What To Look For When Choosing A Continuing-Care Retirement Community

As well as considering the continuing care agreement you should also take time to look at the details of the CCRC regardless of whether you are considering a well-established option or a new type of continuing care retirement community.

The CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) is the only accrediting body for continuing care retirement communities that the nation has. It takes a significant amount of time to get accredited and must renew it every five years. The accreditation process also includes annual and ongoing reports during the term.

What To Ask When Visiting A CCRC:

• What is the process for dealing with total capacity on assisted living and nursing home facilities?
• Are reciprocal agreements in place with local communities?
• What training do the staff have? Do they undergo criminal background checks?
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio for each living facility?
• Are memory impairment services and an Alzheimer’s unit available?
• What is the arrangement for residents being involved in decision-making?
• What is the CCRC culture? Casual or more formal?

Do your best to inform yourself of all of the social activities that take place. Also, make sure that you visit the assisted living and nursing home facilities, not just the independent living quarters.

Feel free to contact your Crescendo Senior Living today. Also, if you want to get our home office in Texas, you can reach us at +1 714-528-4990. We would love to hear from you!