Private vs Companion Room

There are double rooms, and there are double rooms.

My mother-in-law was in a memory care that had longer narrower rooms. Each resident had one side with a window (with shared bathroom). There was plenty of room for visitors. There was a curtain that could be pulled across the center for privacy. We mostly visited with her in one of the common spaces. There was a larger common space where residents gathered and some smaller rooms that families could utilize.

Sister-in-law is currently in a different memory care. Rooms are tiny and set up in the traditional side by side beds with one window per room. Room is so small that if she is in bed there is only space for one visitor. Sister-in-law has the bed away from the window. Her roommate keeps the curtain between the beds pulled. Consequently, sister-in-law’s side of the room feels cave like. The common space is big and nice. That is set up well with space for several families to each have their own area.

There are several places here that have the loner rooms. I know, when the time comes to look for an opening, they will be first on my list .

My DH made it easy. Within the year after he was diagnosed, he told me that if I ever had to put him somewhere, he wanted a private room and private bathroom. At the mcf that he is currently at, he often prefers to hang out in the dining area. When he goes to his room during the day, he seems more comfortable with the door ajar. I think he prefers to see the people going by rather than just hearing unidentified noises. I go to visit every day and I can tell that some evenings/nights, he goes thru the drawers, moving stuff around. I don’t know if he would understand if he had a roommate, that some space and furniture did not belong to him.

One of the nicer facilities I toured ahead of dad’s placement advocated for shared rooms as a best practice for a number of reasons. Firstly, for many silent and boomer generation adults, they’ve typically shared a room in childhood and marriage so it feels more normal for them. The other more important piece, she said, was that the intention is for the MCF to function as a home with one’s bedroom a place to sleep or rest rather than an entire living space. This also plays into not putting TV in the room. They want their residents out and engaged in activities or socializing as long as they can rather than holed up in the rooms.

I suspect it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, but it did make a lot of sense.
HB

I placed DW in a single room in MC about two months ago. Leading up to her placement, I envisioned putting in a TV and a Roku so she could stream programs. (Thinking like a techie.) Then I came to my senses and realized she would be unable to operate any of that. In fact, I put a clock radio in her room so she could listen to music. The radio now sits in her room, unplugged, with the cord wrapped around it. That's partly because she doesn't think to, or know how to, use it and partly because she's always collecting her things to be ready to "go home".

The MCF has activities for residents all day, which encourages socialization. DW is hardly ever in her room except to sleep. It's kept locked, and she doesn't have a key. She uses a shared bathroom near the activities room when the need arises.