"Independent living" means independent living, not independent (*except I forget to eat/take meds) living.
In other words, she is not a candidate for independent living. At best, she's a candidate for assisted living, but as others have said, she won't get better and might be better suited to memory care.
A good memory care place will have a variety of people in it from the virtually independent, to the non-verbal, staring of into space residents. The key is finding a place where they aren't all lumped together all the time.
My mom's place has everything from a 47-year-old man with early onset Alzheimer's but perfectly functional, an 80-year-old retired neuroscientist who devours books all day, to people who are wheelchair-bound, have feeding tubes, and are staring off into space, and everything in between. They have a huge communal room, and the high-functioning folks do their thing with or without assistance in about 2/3 of the room while the low-functioning ones have their low-key activities with major assistance in the other 1/3.
Honestly, I've found the memory care model to be so valuable because of the endless stimulation they provide. I think my mother's decline was slowed significantly because of the interaction with the staff and others at her place. It isn't a bad option, and it doesn't require the residents to be far gone with dementia.
CheryIEF, if your Mom goes to a senior facility that offers Independent Living, the Staff will give your Mom an assessment. Chances are that they find your Mom cannot live in the Independent Living community, instead she would need to live in the Assisted Living/Memory Care section. Or live in Independent Living but the nurse or med-tech will bring your Mom her meds, which is an extra cost. As for eating, the Staff would call your Mom to remind her to come down to the dining room, that might be an extra cost.
You would need to take tours [many are on-line now] to see if such communities offer their Memory Care residents "apartments". My Dad live in what he called his college dorm room, one room with bath. Smaller then most motel rooms. But he was happy there. I've seen other places that had the bedroom separate, bath, and a living room area.
Don't forget Dementia continues to get worse. My Dad was first in Independent Living, but after awhile the Staff found him wandering at night trying to open the building front door. That isn't safe. In Memory Care, the main building doors are locked 24 hours.
Does your city have Group homes? In San Antonio there are group homes that provide full-time care, but they are smaller and less expensive than ALF. Depending on the facility, they have individual rooms with common living and dining rooms.
Mom can live wherever she can afford to live and would like to live as long as she has funds to do so as well as to hire caregivers. Otherwise she will need to enter care. In home caregivers are very expensive. You may start by looking at Independent Living Facilities to assess what they can provide and at what cost.
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In other words, she is not a candidate for independent living. At best, she's a candidate for assisted living, but as others have said, she won't get better and might be better suited to memory care.
A good memory care place will have a variety of people in it from the virtually independent, to the non-verbal, staring of into space residents. The key is finding a place where they aren't all lumped together all the time.
My mom's place has everything from a 47-year-old man with early onset Alzheimer's but perfectly functional, an 80-year-old retired neuroscientist who devours books all day, to people who are wheelchair-bound, have feeding tubes, and are staring off into space, and everything in between. They have a huge communal room, and the high-functioning folks do their thing with or without assistance in about 2/3 of the room while the low-functioning ones have their low-key activities with major assistance in the other 1/3.
Honestly, I've found the memory care model to be so valuable because of the endless stimulation they provide. I think my mother's decline was slowed significantly because of the interaction with the staff and others at her place. It isn't a bad option, and it doesn't require the residents to be far gone with dementia.
You would need to take tours [many are on-line now] to see if such communities offer their Memory Care residents "apartments". My Dad live in what he called his college dorm room, one room with bath. Smaller then most motel rooms. But he was happy there. I've seen other places that had the bedroom separate, bath, and a living room area.
Don't forget Dementia continues to get worse. My Dad was first in Independent Living, but after awhile the Staff found him wandering at night trying to open the building front door. That isn't safe. In Memory Care, the main building doors are locked 24 hours.
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At my mother's Asssited Living facility, there were studios, one and two bedroom units.