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H
herchr Asked August 2017

When does an elderly person with mental illness need to be in a psychology hospital versus assisted living?

I have an aunt suffering from mental illness and I am just trying to figure out what the key differences are between criteria for a psych living facility versus an assisted living facility.

JoAnn29 Aug 2017
Assisted living facilities are not set up to care for mental illness. They get to a point they can no longer care for Dementia patients than then go to long-term. An evaluation may help with determining where she needs to be placed.

jjariz Aug 2017
Memory Care Assisted Living vs Assisted Living? Memory Care is designed for people who wander and need more intense services. It is also much more expensive. Most people with dementia stay in Assisted Living until they are (gently) asked to leave, and then move to Memory Care.
Blessings,
Jamie

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cdnreader Aug 2017
Dear herchr,

I hear your concern for your aunt. I would talk to her doctor and nurse and see if you can get more information about her mental health. Also consider getting a second and third opinion if you are still concerned.

freqflyer Aug 2017
herchr, I see from your profile that your Aunt has Alzheimer's/Dementia. For some reason I never thought of it as "mental illness", to me it is illness that attacks one's memory and cannot be correct. Or does your Aunt actually have a psychosis type of illness?

Usually Assisted Living is a self-pay facility [some States do offer a Medicaid waiver where Medicaid will pay some of the cost]. My Dad was in Assisted Living/Memory Care. He was a gentle person, never got angry, was very easy to manage. And I had seen a variety of different stages of memory loss among the residents.

I would think one would be placed in a psych hospital if they are violent or harmful to themselves and others..... and need to correct this issue using meds and trying to get the correct balance of the meds.

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