Assisted living communities are just that — live-in communities that offer assistance to their residents completing daily activities.
With winter approaching, many seniors are considering moving into an assisted living community to seek a hassle-free lifestyle. This offers more amenities, less house and yard work, and more opportunities to spend the holidays with family.
However, not all assisted living communities are equal.
When your loved one’s healthcare needs change, you want to make sure your community allows them to “age in place.”
Enhanced assisted living communities, such as The Kensington White Plains, offer more senior living benefits than traditional assisted living.
Continue reading to learn how our enhanced assisted living residence (EALR) license enables us to provide a highlevel of care for your loved one.
Traditional Assisted Living Versus Enhanced Assisted Living
Traditional assisted living communities are residential environments for seniors in relatively good health. They’re often looking for a retirement community that offers amenities.
Seniors in traditional assisted living generally still have independence and are looking to connect with new neighbors.
Traditional assisted living residents may rely on staff to help provide transportation to doctor’s offices or take medications. But they generally require little or only some assistance completing their daily activities.
Unfortunately, many traditional assisted living communities are simply unequipped to offer medical services to residents who require high acuity care. This means for example, if a resident has Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and care needs progress or requires a two-person lift or becomes permanently wheelchair-bound, they’ll have to leave their community.
Luckily, enhanced assisted living residences offer all the benefits of traditional senior living, but also provide their residents with the healthcare services to help them “age in place.” At The Kensington, even if a resident’s healthcare needs change drastically, they’ll still be taken care of without being discharged to another community.
Enhanced assisted living communities employ licensed nurses to provide a full spectrum of clinical care. At Kensington White Plains, every bed in our community is licensed for enhanced assisted living support for all levels of care. We have a team of licensed nurses who work 24 hours a day plus registered nurses . We work with physicians offsite and onsite.
Unlike traditional assisted living, we are able and willing to assist residents who need:
- Hoyer Lift to support safer transfer
- Wound care
- Intermittent Feeding tubes, IVs, and catheters
- Insulin injections and diabetes managements
- Specialized diets, including pureed diets for people who have difficulties swallowing
- Enhanced memory care support for those with dementia and behaviors.
Senior Living Benefits at The Kensington White Plains
Kensington White Plains is an enhanced assisted living community with two memory care neighborhoods on campus.
In addition to our beautiful grounds and friendly atmosphere, we take a preventative and proactive approach when caring for our residents.
Below is a list of key benefits that extend to all of our residents, from those who need minimal assistance to those requiring advanced levels of care.
Social Connection and Activities
Besides family, friends often contribute to a happier and healthier lifestyle and give residents meaningful connections to improve their social and mental health.
Residents at The Kensington White Plains are encouraged to live active social lives. Every day of the week is filled with new activities and events to foster engagement and preserve wellness.
We also have a full-time Life Enrichment Supervisor who works with residents to help them plan their event schedules, as well as a Family Services director and a life coach for residents and their families.
Delicious Dining Services
Enjoy a delicious and nutritious dining experience for every single meal at The Kensington. Our professionally trained chef has a rotating menu including prime rib, grilled salmon, vegetables, and more!
Special dietary needs? We can accommodate any diet, including specialty diets, just let us know!
Residents may enjoy wine with lunch and dinner, and can invite visitors to have a free meal in our elegant all-day dining room.
Hassle-Free Lifestyle
Maintaining a home and yard is difficult at any age, but gets even more tiresome for seniors. Instead, residents can move into their own apartments or shared suites and rely on housekeeping staff to help tidy up.
At The Kensington White Plains, everything is on-site, including food, laundry services, and beautiful grounds. Residents have more time to focus on social activities and their own wellness without the work of maintaining a home and yard.
On-Site Fitness Center and Rehabilitation
The Kensington White Plains offers preventative and proactive care for all residents. For many, this means extending physical rehabilitation services that cover physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy.
Research has shown that rehabilitation and physical training can improve a resident’s overall physical and mental health. That’s why we partner with HealthPRO Heritage to offer on-site rehabilitation services to all of our residents.
For residents who need physical therapy from a fall, our rehabilitation specialists are here to improve strength, balance, and mobility.
Transportation Services
The Kensington White Plains staff is here to help coordinate medical care for our residents. When a resident needs to see a doctor off-site, we will arrange transportation to and from the appointment. We can also notify the resident’s family before and after each appointment for greater peace of mind.
Memory Care and Support
What truly sets The Kensington apart from others is our memory care support. We have two memory care neighborhoods on-site (Connections and Haven) to help residents in the beginning stages of memory loss all the way to advanced stages.
Our Connections and Haven neighborhoods are fully secured environments that provide a higher level of care and supervision for residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
These neighborhoods have been specially designed, using an adaptive design that includes color-coded painted walls and doors, motion sensors, and memory boxes to aid in navigation and recognition.
Acuity Care
Acuity care is care administered to people who have special healthcare needs or who require a greater level of care, either due to a recent injury, hospital visit, or advanced disease.
Traditional assisted living communities usually aren’t equipped to take care of people who require high-level needs and send them to a skilled nursing facility.
Other Enhanced Assisted Living communities, due to their model of care, will not take care of seniors who require very high care needs such as those who have advanced wounds or require a pureed diet, and more. These communities will ask the senior to leave. The Kensington White Plains can and does care for those who have very high cognitive and/or physical levels of care.
However, The Kensington’s enhanced license allows our residents to stay on campus and receive the specialized care they require. This can include rehabilitation, specialty diets, two-to-three person lifts, wound care, feeding tubes, and more.
Specialized Services
In addition to providing help to residents in various stages of memory loss caused by Alzheimer’s and dementia, The Kensington can also accommodate those with ALS, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease, truly allowing all our residents the opportunity to “age in place.”
The Kensington White Plains Promise
The Kensington White Plains are your partners in care and providing love and support for your loved one.
If you are the daughter, son, spouse, or family member of a loved one who’s considering moving into an assisted living community, please reach out to learn how we can help provide exceptional care. Let us show you the benefits of senior living.
At The Kensington White Plains, we extend Our Promise to you: to love and take care of your family as we would our own.