Many people think nursing homes and retirement homes are synonymous, however nursing homes and retirement homes can have great differences. Retirement homes are a residence housing facility intended for multiple senior citizens. The usual pattern is that each person or couple in the home has an apartment-style room or suite of rooms. Additional facilities like meals, gathering, recreation, and some form of health or hospice care can be found in retirement homes.
The quality of both nursing homes and retirement homes facilities varies enormously. Residence in retirement homes can be paid for on a rental basis, like an apartment, or can be bought in perpetuity on the same basis as a condominium, this is not the case in nursing homes. Retirement homes differ from nursing homes primarily in the level of medical care given in these retirement homes as opposed to nursing homes.
Retirement communities, unlike retirement homes and nursing homes offer separate homes for residents. Other differences between retirement homes and nursing homes are that, nursing homes provide a type of care for residents of the nursing homes. Usually nursing homes are for residents who need constant nursing care and can no longer fully take care of themselves independently unlike those of retirement homes.
It is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with everyday living. Residents of nursing homes include the elderly and younger adults with physical or mental disabilities. Residents in skilled nursing homes may also receive physical, occupational, and other rehabilitative therapies following an accident or illness. Nursing homes and retirement homes residents may have certain legal rights depending on the location of the retirement home or nursing home facility.