| For the nation's growing number of elderly, assisted | | | | arrangement where assisted living is provided in a |
| living facilities have become popular alternatives to | | | | residential home like environment for elderly who |
| nursing homes. Most people move into assisted living | | | | need care from the early stages also allows for the |
| when they need just a little care, or simply don't | | | | resident to age in place as their level of care |
| want to manage a house. But then people age, they | | | | increases. Assisted living homes in Arizona are state |
| get more frail, they develop Alzheimer's disease. | | | | licensed and regulated, from five or ten residents |
| Ruth Elroy, 87, is a resident at an assisted living | | | | offering assistance for elderly in all levels of care. |
| apartment facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Her daughter, | | | | Much like nursing homes, assisted living homes |
| Cindy Maracay, says assisted living allows her mother | | | | provide equivalent levels of care, prices are usually at |
| to live with a degree of comfort she could not find in | | | | half the cost, yet residents in assisted living homes |
| a nursing home. "It's dignity. It's independence. It's | | | | have the freedom and independence they want to |
| freedom to shape your own lifestyle. That's what | | | | choose in the comfort of a residential house. |
| assisted living is supposed to be about. It's not a | | | | Assisted living homes also have a high staff to |
| nursing home," she says. | | | | resident ratio which allows for a more individualized |
| Cindy agonizes over how to break the news to her | | | | level of care per resident. Meals are home cooked, |
| mother that she's being evicted. Ruth has Alzheimer's | | | | many assisted living homes offer a variety of daily |
| disease, and the facility's administration recently | | | | activities and exercises and even weekly. |
| informed Cindy, Ruth‘s only child, that the elderly | | | | Cindy found out about North Valley Assisted Living |
| woman's medical needs "exceeds the level of care | | | | – an assisted living home in Phoenix, Arizona from |
| we can provide as an assisted living community." | | | | a friend who also had their mother cared for there |
| "This is a nightmare," Cindy says. "This can't be | | | | and were extremely pleased with the services she |
| happening to my mother in Phoenix, Arizona." | | | | received. Cindy enjoys peace of mind knowing her |
| Cindy was faced with a tough decision, until recently | | | | mother Ruth will now be able to age in place as her |
| when she found out about assisted living homes, an | | | | level of care will change. |