The Difference between Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing – Senior Health & Wellness Blog

By Rita Southern, Director of Assisted Living, Shell Point Retirement Community

Assisted living offers a myriad of possibilities that allow each person to pick the best fit for their needs. People who are contemplating a move from their independent living units into one of our three assisted living facilities ask very similar questions about the options that are available to them in an assisted living facility. Here is one of those questions that we hear very often:

How is assisted living different from skilled nursing?

Skilled nursing services are most often needed following a hospitalization or significant decline in health. A stay in a skilled nursing facility is usually temporary in nature and is focused on rehabilitation that is intended to prepare the resident to return to their independent apartment.

Assisted living services typically provide assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming, medications, and meal preparation. This support is provided in a setting that is, by design, residential in nature and is intended not to be temporary. The beauty of assisted living services is that they are there and available on the days that you might not be feeling up to par however, there is a definite focus on encouraging as high a level of independence as possible for the residents that choose to live in assisted living. This means that assisted living residents continue to enjoy the freedom to set their own schedules and pursue hobbies and interests as they choose.

If you would like to learn more about assisted living at Shell Point Retirement Community, please give us a call at (239) 454-2077, email thesprings@shellpoint.org, or visit www.shellpoint.org/assistedliving. Representatives of The Springs are available to assist individuals or families through the steps involved in making the transition as smooth and simple as possible.