When an older adult is hospitalized for an injury, illness or planned surgery, they may continue to recover at a skilled nursing and rehab center before returning home or to their senior living community. This short-term care can help improve their overall outcome and prevent a return trip to the hospital. But what about long-term? How does someone stay in their best physical shape—and out of the ER—as life goes on?

That’s where outpatient after-surgery rehab centers come in. Outpatient rehab is an option that can follow short-term rehab to provide more intensive therapy in an outpatient setting. This comprehensive approach can ensure a complete recovery and a more durable therapeutic outcome.

Not all outpatient rehab providers are alike, however. Try the tips below to find the best provider for you or your loved one.

6 Tips for Choosing an Outpatient Rehab Provider

Here are some factors to consider and questions to ask when exploring outpatient after surgery rehab center options:

1. Success rates: Outpatient rehab providers have varying levels of experience. Make sure you ask a provider how well their clients do in the following areas: reduced risk of falling, increased walking distance and improved ability to use stairs. Can they provide figures? What percentage of clients end up back in the hospital?
2. Specialization: Have the providers’ therapists completed specialized training in working with older adults? Do they use programs clinically proven for older adults, such as the Otago Exercise Program, which is designed to reduce risk of falling?
3. Fitness training: Does the provider offer post-rehab fitness and strength training? This one-on-one personal training can help prevent future injuries and allow seniors to retain their highest degree of independence. Not many outpatient rehab providers offer fitness training, but its many benefits are worth the trouble to find one that does.
4. Reputation: How long has the provider been in business? Longevity can be a mark of success. Also ask friends who have been through outpatient rehab what advice they have to offer. It can help you gain objective insight into any provider you are considering.
5. Fully equipped onsite clinics. Is the provider located onsite or elsewhere? Offsite providers can’t carry in some of the sophisticated equipment needed for optimal outcomes, such as SCIFIT cardio equipment, recumbent bikes and HUR balance equipment.
6. Scheduling: Does the provider offer onsite clinic hours so clients aren’t beholden to a visiting therapist’s schedule? The easier it is to schedule, the better the chances of completing a course of therapy or fitness training for a full return to optimal quality of life.

Respite Care: A Convenient Option for Outpatient Rehab

If you or a loved one are having surgery and anticipate the need for support from an after-surgery rehab center, here’s good news: You can book a short-term stay in a Five Star Senior Living community that features an onsite Ageility clinic. Ageility is Five Star’s rehab and fitness partner. Founded in 2001, Ageility specializes in older adults and provides fitness classes and training in addition to onsite physical and occupational therapy. Find out if there’s an Ageility clinic near you.

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Safety is undoubtedly a primary concern when choosing a senior living community. Whether it’s for yourself or a loved one, peace of mind knowing that you or your loved one is protected and well-cared for is essential. Senior living communities provide a comprehensive sense of security that goes beyond just physical safety. This includes access to essential needs like food and medical care, a comfortable and familiar living space, and the company of others. These factors combined contribute to a secure and supportive environment, often at a level that’s difficult to replicate at home for an individual senior.

Table of Contents

• Promoting Senior Living Safety by Minimizing Risk
• Minimizing Physical Risks
• Support and Companionship
• Regular Maintenance
• Proactively Addressing Senior Health Risks
• Creating A Safe Senior Living Community for Residents and Staff
• Security Measures at Senior Living Communities
• Five Star Senior Living – A Safe Place to Live

Promoting Senior Living Safety by Minimizing Risk

The cornerstone of safety for senior living residents is minimizing risk, and this extends beyond more obvious risk of physical harm or illness. At Five Star Senior Living, we recognize that safety takes many forms and our senior living communities are designed to address safety in every area of our residents’ lives. Here are just a few ways that we prioritize safety in our senior living communities:

Minimizing Physical Risks

Living at home, seniors are at high risk for injury from falls or other home accidents. For seniors experiencing difficulty with balance or mobility, it can be not only overwhelming to figure out how to transform a home into a fully accessible place, but it can be very expensive. Things like ramps, stair lifts, grab bars, altered countertop heights, or other accessibility modifications add up quickly.

Senior living communities are expertly designed to minimize physical risks for residents. Every Five Star Senior Living community looks at all aspects of safety, from building security down to the transition slips between different room floorings to prevent falls. There are also handrails in most hallways for added support and emergency pull cords in many bathrooms, which can be used in the event of a fall or lock-in. For additional reassurance, many of our assisted living and memory care residents also receive personal pendants to summon team members right away in an emergency.

Support and Companionship

Two of the most significant advantages of a senior living community are the support and companionship you get the moment you walk in. Chronic loneliness can lead to various health issues, which is why senior living communities create opportunities to make new connections among residents through regular activities and programs, communal dining, and shared common areas. By enjoying opportunities for social engagement and companionship, our residents are able to feel an increased sense of wellbeing and safety, regularly seeing familiar faces and being able to lean on others for emotional support.

Regular Maintenance

Home maintenance can pose a major safety risk to seniors who live at home alone and have a strong DIY spirit. Risky activities like climbing a ladder to change a lightbulb or lying down to fix a leaking sink are eliminated when living in a senior living community. With dedicated team members and apartments designed with safety and mobility accommodations in mind, help is just a phone call away and residents can focus on enjoying retirement instead of continuously worrying about household chores. Built-in maintenance and access to maintenance on-call also helps provide reassurance for residents and their families in the event of an emergency.

Proactively Addressing Senior Health Risks

When it comes to senior health and safety, it’s important to remember there’s more to health than managing or preventing physical disease. The best senior living communities help minimize risk and promote an overall sense of wellbeing by focusing on each area of health – social, mental, emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual.

At Five Star Senior Living, our exclusive Lifestyle360 programming addresses each of these pillars of senior health through things like senior exercise classes and other fitness activities, social gatherings, creative outlets like painting or music, spiritual practice and exploration, opportunities for learning a new language or skill, and so much more.

Creating A Safe Senior Living Community for Residents and Staff

At Five Star Senior Living, we recognize that prioritizing safety in our senior living communities extends beyond the wellbeing of our residents to include our residents, visitors, and staff, and we have always made this our number one priority. Fostering an environment of physical and emotional safety for everyone through proper staff training and necessary precautions allows us to provide the best care to our residents and to uphold our reputation for providing safe senior living communities our residents can truly call home.

Security Measures at Senior Living Communities

Your home should be a place where you feel comfortable and safe, which is why many senior living communities have a team member to greet you right at the entrance. At Five Star Senior Living, all our communities feature a concierge-style service to greet guests, handle mail and packages, and authorize access for visitors.

Other senior living safety measures to look for include things like:

• The presence of functioning fire alarms, a sprinkler system, and carbon monoxide detectors
• Security personnel on the premises
• Properly locked doors to prevent unknown visitors from entering buildings
• Clearly communicated emergency preparedness and building exit protocols in the event of a fire, natural disaster, or other emergency
• For memory care facilities, presence of knowledgeable staff and access control systems to prevent residents from wandering to unfamiliar areas of the building or accidentally exiting the building unattended
• Clear rules for visitors and security protocols for checking in/verifying visitors’ identities
• Procedures for containing and managing outbreaks of contagious disease
• Cleanliness and sanitation in common areas and dining areas
• Well-lit facilities and outdoor areas
• Surveillance equipment to monitor for safety

Five Star Senior Living – A Safe Place to Live

There’s never been a better time to move into a Five Star Senior Living community, where safety and security are always a priority. Find a community near you and enjoy the peace of mind that being a Five Star Senior Living resident can bring today!

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When older adults and their families first begin to explore senior housing options, one challenge they encounter is navigating the terminology. The senior care industry, like the health care industry, is rife with clinical terms, acronyms, and unfamiliar language. For those new to senior living, it can be tough to decode. 

To help make your search a little easier, we explain some terminology you may encounter when visiting a senior-living community.

Understanding Senior Living Terminology

When you first contact a senior-living community, you may wonder what type of care your family elder requires. Here’s a quick overview of the three most common types of care:

• Independent living: Residents in these communities are typically interested in maintenance-free living with fewer responsibilities. This allows retirees to travel, spend time with their grandchildren, volunteer, or participate in life-enrichment activities and events held on campus. The focus of an independent living community is more about socialization than personal care or medical needs.
• Assisted living: Older adults in an assisted living community usually require a helping hand with some of their daily activities. Having a caregiver nearby to assist with dressing for the day, trips to the bathroom, or a housekeeping task allows residents to remain in their apartment or suite. Residents in an assisted living community enjoy three nutritious meals each day, a wide range of activities and wellness programs, and informal opportunities to socialize.
• Memory care: When an older adult is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, a memory care community is often an ideal solution. These programs are designed to promote quality of life, safety, and peace of mind. Every detail from meals to activities is designed for the unique needs of an adult with dementia.

A few terms you might encounter in relation to your senior loved one’s care include:

• Ambulatory or nonambulatory: These terms describe a resident’s ability to walk with or without assistance. It’s vital for seniors and their families to be frank about how well the older adult can get around because this information is used to determine their level of care. The amount of assistance required impacts both staffing requirements and the monthly resident fee.
• Activities of daily living (ADL): This is another phrase you will encounter often in an assisted living or memory care community. There are six basic ADLs: bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, continence care, and walking/transferring. Community staff complete an assessment before a potential resident moves in to determine how many ADLs they need help with each day.
• Medication management: One of the most utilized services in assisted living and memory care communities is medication management. These services vary by community, but typically include medication reminders or administration.

One additional area of confusion for older adults and their families is how to finance senior living. From benefits for veterans to long-term care insurance, there is a lot to sort through. 

That’s why we created the “Five Star Senior Living Funding Guide.” You can download a free copy today to explore your financing options.