Last week, my father fell while alone in the apartment of his continuing care retirement community. I am so thankful that he was wearing his “alert” necklace. He was able to push the button, which sent an emergency signal to the security staff in his senior living building. In a matter of minutes, they were in his apartment, helping him up off the floor. Thankfully, he was not seriously injured. A continuing care retirement facility means that while my father lives in a fully independent apartment, there is a nursing home on the same property. So in a situation such as this, one of the registered nurses from the nursing home was called to his apartment to evaluate him after the fall. This gives me great peace of mind, to know that he has access to a full medical staff 24/7. Otherwise, in this case, the security officer would have had to call an ambulance to transport him to a nearby hospital.

When you are evaluating a senior living facility, be sure to ask specific questions about the safety and security measures the facility offers. In my father’s case, each apartment comes equipped with an emergency pull-cord in the bathroom. But the “alert” necklace that he wears was an optional feature that we had to order through his maintenance department.

Have you or a loved one been helped by an “alert” necklace or other safety feature in a senior living facility? Share you comments below.

When I was younger, I used to read articles about the challenges faced by “The Sandwich Generation” – people trying to care for aging parents while supporting their own children at the same time. Even just a few years ago, that seemed like a foreign concept to me. My mom had passed away in 1989 from ovarian cancer. Her battle with the disease happened during my final year of college, so I never had the opportunity to truly take care of her.  My dad, now 84, has lived a fully independent and active senior lifestyle until recently. It was about 18 months ago, around his 83rd birthday,  that it became apparent that it was not in his best interest to live all alone in an apartment, without any built-in support system. Our family became concerned that he was not eating regular meals, he was not keeping up with necessary housework and, most importantly, he was not getting any social interaction.

It didn’t take much persuasion to get him to consider a move into some sort of Florida senior living facility near my home in Orlando. But finding the right senior facility in Florida - one that provided the amenities and atmosphere he wanted but that would respect his independence and dignity – that was a much bigger
challenge than I ever expected. Since he is still fairly independent, we knew he did not need a nursing home. My initial thought was an assisted living facility, but after visiting  a few I realized those types of Florida senior living facilities provide more care and less independence than he wanted. After educating myself about the  different types of senior living facilities that are available, I decided that he would do best in a continuing care retirement community – a property that provides different levels of care based on the needs of the individual.

As a former journalist, I pride myself of being able to quickly and thoroughly gather information on any given topic. So I was surprised and frustrated at my inability to find a comprehensive list of continuing care retirement communities in the Orlando area. I did find a few online, and a few in the phonebook. In the end, though, it was good old “word of mouth” that lead us to the continuing care retirement community he now lives in. That’s when I decided to develop a website that would offer a comprehensive database for a Florida senior living facility search.

Florida Senior Living Advisor is the culmination of nearly a year of brainstorming and research, with a healthy dose of fear and self-doubt mixed in. I sincerely hope that it will become a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about senior living facilities across the state of Florida. I also hope to provide useful and timely information through this blog. This is most definitely a work in progress, so I encourage you to leave your comments here or send me an email at mitra@flseniorlivingadvisor.com.