Atlanta, Georgia Assisted Living Facilities & Senior Care

Making sure the deposit is refundable is one of the important 'to do's' when you are researching assisted living for yourself, a friend, or a loved one.

Many facilities require that a deposit be submitted to reserve a spot for a family member that is considering moving to the facility.

It is important for you to find out, in writing, if possible, if the deposit will be refunded if you decide against the facility. This is one area that has caused a great deal of confusion with families, and has caused heated, and at-times legal arguments between family and facility.

Does it matter if the assisted living facility that you are interested in is involved in the community, trade organizations, and other relevant industry and community groups? We think it certainly does, for a number of reasons.

Researching assisted living facilities can be a mind-boggling exercise. Especially since the number of facilities in any given city can often grow faster than you can count them (thanks to the millions of baby-boomers getting ready to retire.) In any major city, there may be dozens, and at times hundreds of facilities to choose from, of different sizes, with different services offered, and vastly differing reputations. Some facilities may largely be 'off the grid' - meaning they don't have much of a presence online, or with other advertising and marketing means. Others may be quite visible everywhere you turn, with ads, signage etc. You may also be familiar with other facilities just from name recognition alone (I think most of us have heard of the big names out there - Sunrise Assisted Living, Brookdale, etc).

So how do you whittle down this large list into a manageable set of choices? It may be a good idea to start with any local Assisted Living Associations or organizations to see who is involved, and what information they might have on the facility.

For example, Georgia has the Assisted Living Association of Georgia, which is a highly visible group of people advocating for, and acting as the voice for the assisted living industry in Georgia. This group also lists the facilities who are members, and who participate in association events, policy, and affairs. This list for Georgia and Atlanta can be seen here.

We think that, since Assisted Living is so un-uniformly regulated across the US, and since states are mostly in charge of laws and policies within their states, it is in the best interests of any assisted living facility to be active and involved however they can - with associations, community events, and other forms of outreach.

Facilities, individuals, and facility owners and administrators that take the time to be involved send a strong message that they care about their industry, their image, and educating the public about the best that assisted living has to offer.

In addition, many assisted living associations have what might be regarded as a 'code of ethics' that their members and facilities must abide to. They may require that people adopt the objective of serving the interest of adults needing assistance, while enhancing their quality of life, and fulfilling any and all immediate needs....all done with "fairness, honesty and a sense of social responsibility." Facilities may also be asked to pledge, in one way or another, to convey a positive image about assisted living to the public at all times, and to support the positive image of relevant senior services within the city or area, or provided by the city or state.

Another way a facility might benefit by being involved in a city or state assisted living group or organization is that it offers a readily-available way for facility owners, administrators, and employees to communicated with each other, and to learn from one another. Being isolated from your 'competitors' and colleagues can cause a facility to fall behind in terms of new advancements in the industry, or methods of handling the different sorts of challenges inherent to residents with conditions such as Alzheimer's or Dementia, or even to lose business. Often times, facilities that are full, or perhaps not able to handle a certain type of resident might refer this person to another facility. If this facility has networked with other facility administrators in an external group or association, they are probably more likely to refer the potential resident to them, over a facility that they know nothing about.

All of this isn't to suggest that if a facility is not involved in the community, or within an association such as the Assisted Living Association of Georgia (ALAG), that they don't offer a quality facility or services. We simply believe that by being involved and an active participant associations or trade groups, that any facility will greatly benefit from the network of experts that they will have immediate access to, and will also be up-to-date on industry happenings, news, techniques and issues. The associations, in turn, can provide another way to monitor facilities to ensure that they operate within the highest level of standards and ethics possible.

The Fulton County Office on Aging (which is a division of the Fulton County Housing and Human Services site), offers a number of programs and a continuum of services for seniors in Atlanta and Fulton County. They recommend that you call the Starline to find our more information about the various programs, services, and classes offered. The number is (404) 613-6000.

Among the services offered, there is Adult Day Care; a Dial-a-Ride program; Home Delivered Meals; Advocacy; a Caregiver Support Program, and much more. In addition, the Office on Aging has a page that lists the various senior and multi-use centers around Atlanta and in Fulton County, as well as neighborhood Senior Centers. This information can be found on the Office on Aging for Fulton County page here.