Top 6 Benefits of Residential Assisted Living

The term residential assisted living or RAL is fairly new.  Essentially RAL is assisted living or memory care services being provided in the comfort of a residential home.  It’s also known as a Residential Care Home or Small Care Home.

Most of us relate assisted living to the large facilities that are popping up all around us and have never heard of or considered a smaller, more intimate option like RALs. 

In this article, we want to introduce you the concept of providing assisted living and memory care in a residential setting and provide you with some of the top benefits of this option.

#1 – More Home-Like

As mentioned in on our “Why” article, my father-in-law much preferred the idea of living in a residential home than a larger, institutional building.  He lived in a home his whole life and just didn’t feel comfortable moving into an apartment/condo-looking facility.  He wanted all the comforts of a home.

#2 – More Individualized Care

Most large facilities have a resident to caregiver ratio of 10:1, 15:1 or evening higher during the daytime and the ratios can double in the evening shifts.  That’s asking a lot from a caregiver.  Your loved one may have to wait a while until the caregiver has free time to help them.

Our home will have a 4:1 ratio. 

All residents and caregivers will all be within a 5,500 ft2 home.  No elevators or long corridors to travel to reach the residents.  Our response time is just going down the hall or into the next room.

Having such a small resident to caregiver ratio enables us to provide a much more individualized care.  This includes daily activities such as helping them move around, to personal hygiene and even going on walks.

#3 – More Individualized Activities

A lower ratio enables our staff to learn more about your loved ones and what activities they like. This will help them get out of the chair, get active and stimulate their brains.

There’s so much more to activities than just bingo.  With a smaller group, we can provide much more specialized activities that they actually want to do.

#4 – More Individualized Meals

As with most quality facilities, our staff will track special diets, restrictions, and allergies.  However with a smaller group, we can also design our menus around what they like to eat.  Our in-house Chef will spend time with each resident to get an idea what type of foods they enjoy and will build them into the menus.

Having good quality, tasty food is one of the highest-ranking items by residents. 

Additionally, your loved one won’t have to travel to the cafeteria for their meals – it’s at our dining table.

#5 – Safety

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates the fall risk to be 50% lower in RALs than in larger facilities.  While our architects and interior designers have helped us design a very safe home, we believe the lower caregiver to resident ratio and shorter travel distances also play important roles.

#6 – Fixed, Rental Fee

Most RALs have a simple, all-in monthly rent fee. The cost per month for care is fixed which means that as the care level increases, families won’t have to spend more money.

This is different than most larger facilities which charge based on the level of care needed.  So as more care is needed, your price increases.

Summary

Residential Assisted Living (RALs) provide an environment for more intimate, specialized and individual care. With a lower resident to caregiver ratio, your loved one will receive more individual care, meals and activities.  They won’t have to travel great distances and won’t have a rotating staff that may not care for them on a consistent basis.

Have you visited any RAL homes?  Most are simply renovated homes, while others are built from the ground up specifically for providing assisted living and memory care.  On rare occasions, some go the extra step to provide a “Boutique” RAL.  What is this?  Our next article will explain this in detail.