Medical visits are crucial for people of all ages, and especially for those of advancing years. When an aging senior moves into an assisted living facility, they will still need to visit their primary physician, perhaps specialists, and even their dentist and optometrist.

As an elder care option, assisted living is a wonderful choice for people who want to live a high quality of life, on their own terms, and still receive top level of care and support. Yet, how would an elderly person who is at assisted living be able to get to some of these appointments? What if they no longer drive or have reliable transportation?

A quality assisted living community will offer transportation services.

Depending on the facility, they may provide transportation for elderly residents to visit a variety of places, including or especially to doctors’ appointments and other follow-up care.

Some facilities will even have optometrists, dentists, and doctors as well as nurses stopping by for regular appointments and visitation. They may have facilities on-site where residents can visit their primary care physician or a doctor or nurse to have their blood pressure checked, have medication administered, and have other vitals monitored closely.

At some facilities, optometrists and dentists offer regular visitation to residents. That means, even though the specialist might not actually go to the facility, they may have designated days were residents can be seen so a number of residents will receive transportation to the appointment one day a month or one day every other month or at some other interval that makes sense for that specific facility and its residents.

How important are eye care appointments at this age?

Even for seniors who have what is best described as perfect vision, getting to their optometrist regularly is vital. That’s because vision related challenges can increase with age.

For those seniors who have chosen the elder care option of assisted living, they understand they’re still living life to its fullest. That’s the pursuit, a high quality of life.

As a person approaches 80, for example, there is an almost certainty that they will have dealt with either cataracts or glaucoma. Macular degeneration and other vision related challenges are also something to be concerned about because, with age comes an increasing risk of various health issues.

Check with the assisted living community directly about regular optometry visits.

The only way to truly answer this question on a facility specific factor is for the senior and/or family members or close friend to contact and speak with an administrators to find out what types of services they provide, either on-site or through transportation options.

As long as seniors are aware of options available to them for direct medical support or transportation, there should be no excuse for a senior to miss an important appointment, such as once a year or once every other year, depending on the individual and their vision history, and that is a great recipe for quality living.

Assisted living should be able to provide the basic necessities for these specialists in the medical field and others.

If you or an aging loved-one is considering a move to Assisted Living in Fountain Hills, AZ please contact the caring staff at MD Senior Living today. 480-267-9200