Activities of Daily Living: A Checklist For Senior Apartments in Gahanna

Have you noticed that a loved one has been struggling to handle some of his or her normal daily tasks such as personal hygiene or paying bills on time? If so, you might benefit from creating a checklist for activities of their daily life, and keeping track of their ability to complete them. This checklist is designed to help you help them--by determining the level of assistance they need for each area of their daily activities. Assessing their needs for each of these activities can help determine whether or not it’s time to consider moving them to an assisted living community.

Though we strive to let residents at the Sage Park retirement community be as independent as possible, they will always be able to receive assistance when they require it and have relationships with professionals on staff who are ready to treat their ever-changing care needs.

What are Activities of Daily Living?

Activities of daily living are everyday personal care tasks that allow someone to live completely independently with comfort, safety, and dignity such as using the restroom, changing clothes, bathing and eating. There are also instrumental activities of daily living; these are regular tasks that ensure an individual can provide for themselves such as shopping, cooking, medication management, and cleaning.

Activities of Daily Living Assessment

This checklist includes daily living tasks that you can assess in order to determine how much assistance your loved one needs, and if it’s time for them to transition to assisted living. To use it properly, rate your loved one’s needs for each of these tasks as 1) Independent 2) Sometimes needs help 3) Always needs help and 4) Cannot Perform.

Here are the tasks:

Bathing
Dressing
Using the Restroom
Grooming
i.e. shaving, brushing their hair, etc.
Medication Management
Do they take their medications on time every day?
Do they refill prescriptions regularly and have their necessary medications on hand?
Eating and cooking
Do they eat three meals a day, every day, that are healthy and nutritious?
Are they able to use appliances and cooking utensils safely?
Mobility
Do they walk without assistance from another person?
Are they at risk of falling?
Transferring
Are they able to get in and out of bed, a chair, a sofa, and their vehicle?
Climbing Stairs
Shopping
Do they get confused when they go to the store alone?
Using Their Phone
Are they able to call someone in case of an emergency?
Housework
Is their home typically clean without any obstructions to walkways?
Laundry
Are they able to carry a laundry basket to the laundry room, wash their clothes, then fold and put them away?
Driving
Do you feel confident enough in their driving abilities to ride with them?
Managing Finances
Do they pay their bills on time every month and understand their financial situation?

If your loved one needs help with only a few of these tasks, they may simply need more assistance at home than they used to. However, if they need help with most or all of these tasks, then the Sage Park assisted living program would be perfect for them! Assisted living offers so many great benefits such as safety, socialization and life-enrichment, and it will make your life less stressful, knowing your loved one is in the hands of caring professionals. We would love to show you around and share the benefits of our community!

To learn more about residency or to schedule a tour of Sage Park, contact our friendly team today.