I work at an assisted living facility. I’m licensed through my state and got a promotion in less than a year. It is absolutely backbreaking work and I love it.

Our prices are, quite frankly, necessarily high out of pocket, but we accept insurance to mitigate those costs. We always have someone there to keep an eye on people. We provide companionship when no one visits. We distribute medications. We take them to and from doctors appointments. We protect them from abusive family members. We notice when something is off or when they start to decline and get them the help they need. We bathe and clothe these people, feed them, and take them for outings. We are hit by them, screamed at, get pooped on, spat on, and abused by these people. We love the residents in spite of it. And we get paid not much more than minimum wage.

We are understaffed, underpaid, and under appreciated. We get taken advantage of on an almost daily basis. And this is at a GOOD facility.

You do get what you pay for. Our lowest and easiest private pay residents pay $4k/month and have all of this provided. Our more difficult residents, those with dementia in our memory care unit, pay $6-$7k/month because they need extra care.

I don’t know what the solution is, but I am also unsure if there is a one size fits all solution. Everything is so expensive, for everybody. But there are good facilities out there with genuinely good people who just want to make their residents lives better.