Comparing Living at Home Alone to Senior Living

This is a debate that has been put forward by the increasing popularity of Senior Living Homes or say Community Living in India. There has been a paradigm shift in real estate from Standalone Houses to Societies or Community Living in recent years.

What is Community Living?

In India, we’ve always been following community living. The term may sound fancy, but long back, we used to live in joint families. Be it neighborhoods of cities or villages, everyone used to live like an extended family. This life where whole neighborhoods or even villages lived like an extended family – is nothing but community living!

However, inspired by the west, people began moving to newer cities in search of jobs and better living conditions. This gave rise to nuclear families, and the community living gradually vanished, especially in the metropolitan cities. Life does come a full circle, and the same happened to community living.

Now, community living is gaining due popularity. Housing societies are the best places to be living in a community. Other, newer additions to Real Estate like Kid Centric Homes and Senior Living Homes are the places where Kids as well as Senior Citizens get a community of their own like-minded and similarly aged individuals!

Going forward with Senior Living Homes, it is said that being social eliminates multiple physical as well as mental illnesses! It is true as well. Most Senior Citizens living in a Senior Living Facility are generally happier and healthier than those living in standalone houses.

Senior Citizens in Standalone Houses

Senior Citizens can be in one of the two scenarios in Standalone Houses –

1.  Living with family –

Many Senior Citizens think that living with their family is the best thing after retirement, and we agree. It is indeed the best but in an ideal scenario. In a rather pragmatic sense, what is family if absent most of the time? In cities, adults are busy with their work and kids are busy with their studies!

The family does take care of Senior Citizens but they are not present with them when they need them the most, and that is a bitter truth! Moreover, in standalone houses, Senior Citizens get less liberty to be active and social. As a result, it is often observed that Senior Citizens get lonely and ill while living in Standalone Homes.

2.  Living alone/with a caretaker –

Well, living alone is worse than living with a family! Imagine your world being majorly confined to a single person! That is now how humans happily live! We’ve always been social animals and such an arrangement steals our basic nature from us!

It is true that living with a caretaker is safer and healthier. But then, what about the lack of social life? The demerits of this arrangement easily outweigh the advantages.

In most scenarios, standalone houses make Senior Citizens feel old. There isn’t any sense of independence. Moreover, standalone homes may or may not have similarly aged people in the neighborhood which means a lack of friends and social life.

Senior Citizens in Senior Living Homes

Senior Living Homes aren’t those traditional old-age homes with ill-scented and dingy dormitories! Rather Senior Living Homes are just like any other modern housing society with various amenities and leisure facilities. What differentiates a Senior Living Home from other residential societies, is that SLHs are only for Senior Citizens.

Moreover, Senior Living Homes have various design tweaks and facilities for Senior Citizens like –

• Chamfered Edges
• Wheelchair Accessible Campus
• Grabrails in Kitchen/Bathrooms
• Anti-Skid Tiles
• LED Indicators on Switches
• Night Lamps
• OPD Service
• 24×7 Nurse and Ambulance
• Medical Room
• Pharmacy, etc.

Senior Living Homes provide Senior Citizens a community of similarly aged individuals that become friends in no time. Most SLHs follow a daily routine. It can consist of various activities that keep you active, healthy, and fit. These activities not only help you in being physically fit but also in bonding with others around you.

SLHs come with an option of community dining as well as kitchens if you’re interested in cooking for yourself! Not just that, SLHs come with facilities like – Badminton Court, Gymnasium, Walking and Jogging Tracks, Billiards, Table Tennis, Board Games, Prayer Hall, Cafeteria, etc.

Senior Living Homes come equipped with caretakers as well, to assist you in various activities as and when needed, for example – bringing in groceries, bringing medicines, doing repairs, etc.

Senior Citizens in Care Homes

For Senior Citizens who require specialized care and attention, Senior Living Homes might not be a good fit. For them, there are care homes! Care homes come with certified caretakers who are experienced in taking care of Senior Citizens and are well equipped to handle their daily activities as well.

Care Homes have regularly scheduled visits of doctors for every resident. Care Homes are fit for Senior Citizens who have a disease that requires special attention, like dementia. Moreover, for Senior Citizens who cannot do their daily jobs like bathing, washing, brushing, etc. comfortably, Care Homes are the best places.

Care Homes also provide a community of Senior Citizens, and caretakers here help them stay active with guided exercises and meditation.

Conclusion

Be it Senior Living Homes or Care Homes – both have an edge over the standalone home. Senior Citizens living in standalone homes may or may not be happy. They may or may not be receiving proper medical attention. They may or may not be having a social life.

However, in a Senior Living Community, there is no confusion. Every Senior Citizen living in a Senior Living Facility is for sure, happier, healthier, and has a better social life than those in standalone homes.

Especially, credible and renowned Senior Living Homes like ours, i.e. Ashiana Shubham and Ashiana Nirmay, provide state-of-the-art facilities to the Senior Citizens, without compromising their health. Safety and security are always at the top of our priority list. In addition to those, the active and healthy lifestyle that we provide to our residents is unmatched. We currently serve more than 1800 happy Senior Citizens.

Senior Living Homes have been gaining due popularity for various reasons mentioned throughout this blog. Many of us still don’t feel very comfortable with Senior Living Homes only due to societal norms. It is time that we break the taboos of society and start considering the numerous benefits of Senior Living Communities!