Assisted Living

Assisted living facilities typically provide 24-hour care services for resident protection, an emergency response system, three daily meals in a communal dining room, provision and coordination of social services, supervision of persons with cognitive disabilities, regular social and religious activities, housekeeping and maintenance, and some transportation. These are usually included in each resident’s basic monthly fee and, particularly in more expensive facilities, tend to be of very high quality.

For example, meals are cooked on site, often by culinary specialists. They are nutritionally balanced, varied, and large, designed to be both tasty and healthy.The typical assisted living resident is an elderly woman over the age of 80 who can perform many, although not all, personal activities herself. Nearly three-fourths of assisted living residents are female, according to the National Center for Assisted Living.

This is due to the longer life expectancy of women, resulting in most men being able to live out their lives in their own homes before requiring institutional care. In terms of racial profiles, residents tend to be Caucasian, with a very small but growing population of Asian and African American individuals. This arises from the preponderance of Caucasians in the overall population, as well as the extremely high cost of care and cultural norms.