What You Need to Know About Level 3 Assisted Living Care
When looking for an assisted living facility, you have to consider far more than the facility’s location. The top priority is always ensuring that your loved one is getting the care they need. Different assisted living facilities provide various levels of care, and it’s important to choose assisted living near you based on your family member’s needs.
Many states, including Texas, split assisted living care into three “levels of care.” At each level, staff provide a different amount of care to suit each resident’s individualized needs. As you explore assisted living facilities, be sure to ask what levels of care they offer. To help readers know what these levels mean, our team at Lavender Springs Assisted Living in Austin, TX, shares insights about Level 3 Assisted Living Care. Keep reading!
What Levels of Care Do Texas Assisted Living Facilities Offer?
There are three general levels of care in assisted living. It is important to match the level of care to the needs of your family member, as too much care is both expensive and smothering, while too little care can do active harm to your loved one. Usually a nurse will interview the prospective resident and their primary caregivers to assign a level of care. Each ascending Level usually comes at a higher financial cost.
Level 1 care is for people who need help with some of their activities of daily living (ADLs) but can mostly get by on their own. If your family member needs help doing their laundry but can take care of their own personal hygiene, Level 1 assisted living may be the best choice.
Level 2 assisted living provides more help with ADLs and more personalized care, which may include help with medication, dressing and showering.
People who need even more help but are not needing a skilled nursing home are usually assigned Level 3 care, which is also called enhanced assisted living. This highest level of care provides residents with around-the-clock support with multiple ADLs. When an assisted living facility offers memory care, it is generally Level 3 care.
What Makes Level 3 Assisted Living Special?
With Level 3 assisted living, you will have peace of mind knowing that all your loved one’s needs are taken care of. At the same time, they will be able to preserve their semi-independent lifestyle for as long as possible, with minimal disruption to their daily activities.
In many cases, the extra care that comes with Level 3 assisted living can help keep seniors out of a nursing home. Finding a facility that offers multiple levels of care can reduce the disruption in their life (and yours) as their needs change.
Senior Care In Assisted Living
What Activities of Daily Living Can Enhanced Assisted Living Help With?
With a resident who needs Level 3 care, you can expect the facility to provide them with close assistance. This care may include:
- 24-hour supervision
- Medication management
- Assistance with personal hygiene (bathing, toileting), dressing, and transfers
- Housekeeping and laundry services
How Do You Know You’ve Chosen the Right Level of Care?
An assisted living facility will determine your loved one’s care needs before they move in. This non-invasive process generally involves a points-based assessment of the prospective resident’s ability to perform certain ADLs. The assessor may also examine the resident’s mobility level.
The test is only one part of a larger picture, however. A good assisted living assessment will also involve interviewing the resident and their family to learn what the resident’s goals are. Your loved one’s needs will also likely change with time, so learn early on what levels of care and services each prospective facility offers. Some, called “continuing care,” emphasize their ability to enable residents to “age in place” without needing to relocate as they become less independent.
Lavender Springs Assisted Living: The Best Long-Term Care in Austin, TX
At Lavender Springs, we’re proud of our years of experience helping seniors in Austin, TX live the best lives possible, enriched by how many things our senior residents can do in and around Austin. We also offer ways to help families manage the cost of assisted living services to enable loved ones to live with us here.
Give us a call at 512-858-0211 or send us a message online today to learn more about the services and amenities we offer.