Scaling down

Moving into assisted living takes some adjustments

MOSES LAKE — It’s a time families dread. Mom, or Dad, or Grandma, is slowing down a little, becoming forgetful, maybe having some health problems, and it’s getting to be more than they and their family can keep up with alone. As hard as it is to think about, it’s time to look into assisted living. So how do you make that transition? “We see two very common types of situations,” said Joe Ketterer, executive director of Brookdale Hearthstone Moses Lake, an assisted living facility. “One is the senior living by themselves. It's an unsafe environment, you don't have the housekeeping, the basic assistance with daily living activities ... So it's the solo senior type of situation. Or what's very common is they're living with an adult child, or adult nephew or something like that, and the burden on the family has gone above what they can handle.”