There is, of course, a tremendous difference between assisted adult living in a private home where the owner takes in retired folks and provides rooms for them, and the extremely posh assisted adult living quarters of some of the newer "country club" facilities. Most assisted adult living locales provide for transportation, daily living activities, housekeeping and of course meals.

The differences in such facilities will vary tremendously, not only in the amazing grounds available in many of these facilities, but also the sumptuousness of the facilities themselves. After all being served meals chosen from a menu, as a restaurant would do, and being served the meal of the day in a sterile cafeteria makes all the difference in the world, yet both are providing the service of offering meals to the residents.

For instance your loved one may need the possibility of having meals served in their room when they are too ill to make it to the dining room, thus if you already know that this is an occasional need, then make sure that particular service will be available. Verify that if the doctor prescribes a controlled diet, such as salt free or sugar free, that the choices can be made.

The minds of adults need to be challenged in order to keep the mind working properly, thus you need to be sure that the activities that are planned do create mind-challenging opportunities as well as entertaining ones. For example bingo games or card games need to be encouraged, and for those who like to play chess or checkers, there should be one or more such tables available.  "Name that tune" type of group play is also mind-challenging. Even the ubiquitous sing-alongs challenge the memory.

The assisted adult living that takes place in a private home will not, of course, provide as many services as the "country club" facilities can offer, however sometimes they are preferable to the "fancier" places. For instance the homeowner may have pets, which the resident can care for and of course lavish love onto. In larger facilities there may be visiting pets, but they are not the same as having them constantly around the residents. After all, it has been shown that pets are important for mental health.

As for services too, keep in mind that assisted adult living facilities are not nursing homes by any stretch of the imagination. Your attention is called to the "assisted" meaning assigned to each of the assisted adult living locales.