Any Assisted Living People out there?

casperbjs · Jul 17, 2004

Hi NurseLori,

I work in a assisted living home. We also have a floor for "mild dementia and mild alzheimer's."

gerinurse10 · Jul 17, 2004

Hi there! I am a SALSA in a state funded assisted living (pilot program). Maybe someone at this site knows what SALSA stands for. :rolleyes: Nice to meet all of you. I enjoy my job it's challenging and rewarding. Tough at times with the families who don't want to pay for the services but other than that a pretty fun environment to work. Do you all use the standard levels of care? We have 4 based on the amt of hours the client needs/day/week. Would love to hear the different settings you all work in, we accept T-19 so we are different from the private settings. Let me know!! Thanks.

ghostship · Jul 18, 2004

HI! This is my first post so please bear with me if I mess it up!! I made the move to AL about 6 months ago and love it! I have been a nurse since 1979, with most of those years in LTC. Not near the stress in AL, but the pay isn't quite as much either. I still work a shift or two in the nursing home during the week and I can't believe how many people think that staff in the AL are just there because the work is easier. I wouldn't say it's easier, just very different from the traditional LTC setting.

nurseLori · Jul 19, 2004

I am so happy to hear there are others out there! I started at my facility on contract in November when their full time nurse up and left, due to some personal problems. I had not had experience in this before, and found it fun and challenging. They soon hired my on full time in January, and I am learning the ropes little by little. The training I did get:o , was from the lead med-aide, and it was minimal to say the least. I feel much more confident now, but It would be so nice to have others to ask questions to!

I don't know what SALSA stands for.....

We have four levels of care. Each ADL is broke up into a category, and depending on how much assist they need, they get a point score. No assist would be 0, assist occasionally would be 5 points, assist most of the time would be 10 and so on..then the total depicts what level care.

I think my bigest challenge is educating others, family, doctors, home health etc. on how assisted livng "actually works".

FutureNurse2005 · Jul 20, 2004

I just had an interview for a position with an AL facility! Hopefully in a few weeks i'll be hired!!

gerinurse10 · Jul 22, 2004

SALSA stands for supervisor of assisted living services agency. Not too many replies for AL people. I think this field is growing quickly. Hope to hear from more AL nurses.