What is the difference between Personal Care and Assisted Living in Dalton, Georgia?
Orchard Ridge Residences is a senior living community located in Dalton, GA. It offers both personal care and memory care services. Memory care encompasses dementia and/or Alzheimer’s care.
What is personal care in Dalton, GA?
The State of Georgia defines a personal care community as a facility that provides care and services to someone who will benefit from casual supervision but does not need continuous medical or nursing attention.
Personal care communities are similar to assisted living. They are designed for seniors who are mostly self-sufficient, but need assistance with activities of daily living. You may not need constant supervision or medical care, but you could benefit from the dining, housekeeping, and laundry services.
Staying active is the key to longevity in seniors. With basic needs met, chores covered, and support for activities of daily living (otherwise known as ADLs), residents are free to live as independently as possible and take advantage of the carefully curated schedule of social events both in the residential community as well as in the greater community at large.
What are the six activities of daily living?
According to the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living, there are six basic functions that people should be able to do in order to live independently.
- Bathing
- Dressing
- Using the restroom
- Transferring (getting out of bed unassisted)
- Continence management
- Feeding
As we age, these become more difficult, and personal care homes can provide the necessary assistance for seniors to continue to live as independently as possible.
What is Orchard Ridge Residences?
Orchard Ridge Residences is a personal care community in Dalton, GA. We offer the ADL assistance and hospitable amenities that you would expect to find in a top-tier, personal care community.
But we don’t stop there. We also have a nurse on-site and are licensed to manage your medications as well. With us, you have peace of mind that you will be taken care of, and if something should arise, we are in the position to get you the help you need.
While we’re not licensed in GA to provide assisted living services, we can provide more thorough attention for those that fit certain parameters. For those needing extra, more specialized attention, we can refer you and work with you to find providers in the larger community that can help.
And let’s not forget to mention the extensive list of activities we have planned every month! We know how important it is for seniors to stay active, so we carefully organize a full schedule of activities here at Orchard Ridge Residences like ice cream socials, craft projects, and board game nights or activities like shopping or dining out that take us into the larger Dalton community. We make sure that our seniors are never bored and are always living their fullest, most fulfilling lives!
How is personal care different from assisted living in Dalton, GA?
Is personal care the same thing as assisted living? Not exactly. While they are very similar, there are some important differences.
Assisted living communities do provide assistance with ADLs, dining, housekeeping amenities, and socialization opportunities. However, the distinction between the two is really in the amount of support and medical care provided.
Personal care communities provide gentle support for those who can participate in their ADLs and don’t require more intensive attention, which could include tasks like mobility assistance.
Assisted living communities offer more involved medical care for those who need more help with conditions and issues that don’t require 24-hour nursing care, and residents don’t have to be able to self-evacuate in an emergency.
Below shows the typical services provided by an assisted living community versus a personal care home. It is best to ask each about the specific care services they offer.
Feature | Assisted Living | Personal Care |
Assistance with ADLs | • | • |
Dining, housekeeping, and transportation | • | • |
Socialization | • | • |
Medication Monitoring | • | • |
Medication Management | • | |
Health Monitoring | • | • |
Catheter care | • | |
Extensive transfer | • | |
Ambulation assistance | • | • |
What should I do next?
First and foremost, always check with your doctor before making any changes to your current health management situation. Ask your provider if a personal care community is right for you. But you don’t have to wait for approval from your doctor to come by and take a tour!