There is a myriad of improvements that you can make to your house to make it easier for you to age in place. However, the older you get, the less effective that grab bars and ramps will be to ensure that you can be comfortable in your home. Once this time comes, you should start deliberating on a change of environment, which usually means moving out of your house and into a retirement community.
For some people, this decision can be difficult based on two main things—losing their independence and having to pay a considerable amount of money. But this is not the case. In fact, you will find that retirement living will offer you many more benefits than living on your own during your senior years. This piece lists a couple of the reasons why it is worth enrolling in a retirement living community.
1. A retirement village provides you with a healthy diet
Living on your own means having to fend for your meals by yourself. And for the elderly, this can prove challenging, especially if one does not know how to cook well. Resultantly, you become dependent on fast food and this can adversely affect your already compromised health. If you would prefer to rid yourself of this burden, you should consider retirement living as an ideal solution to your situation.
These communities hire kitchen staff that are tasked with making sure all the resident receive meals and snacks in time. Additionally, the kitchen staff are trained in cooking nutritional yet delectable dishes so you expose your palate to a wide variety of cuisines while eating a diet that is designed for the unique health needs of seniors. Not to mention that you never have to be tasked with cleaning up and doing dishes since these jobs are delegated to the staff.
2. A retirement village prioritises your safety
One of the major threats posed to seniors that live on their own is slip and fall accidents. The older you get, the more brittle your bones get and this makes you more vulnerable to breaks. Moreover, women are at a high chance of developing osteoporosis in their later years and this condition decreases their bone density, making their bones weak. Therefore, even when you get surgery to repair a broken bone, the healing will be drawn out and you may never regain full functionality of the affected limb.
With that in mind, it is best to mitigate this risk by living in a retirement village. These communities are designed to be senior-friendly so accessibility is a top priority. Features such as enhanced illumination, access to caregivers to assist one's mobility, stairlifts and more all work to minimise one's risk of falling.