Plain-English Definitions
Senior Living Glossary
The terms you'll hear on tours, in contracts, and from state agencies — defined the way we'd explain them across a kitchen table, with the Arizona specifics included.
- Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
- The basic self-care tasks used to measure how much help a person needs: bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, transferring (getting in and out of bed or a chair), and eating. Assisted living communities assess ADLs to set a resident's care level and monthly care fees.
- Aid & Attendance
- A VA pension supplement for wartime veterans and surviving spouses who need help with daily activities. It adds a monthly, tax-free benefit that can be put toward assisted living, memory care, or in-home care. VA Aid & Attendance guide →
- ALTCS (Arizona Long Term Care System)
- Arizona's Medicaid program for long-term care, run by AHCCCS. For seniors who meet medical and financial criteria, ALTCS pays for care in contracted assisted living communities, memory care, nursing facilities, and at home. Pronounced 'ALL-tecs.' What is ALTCS? →
- Assisted Living Center
- An Arizona-licensed community serving 11 or more residents — the apartment-style buildings with dining rooms, activity calendars, and transportation. Base rent and care fees are usually priced separately. Assisted living in the East Valley →
- Assisted Living Home
- An Arizona-licensed residence serving 10 or fewer residents — usually a converted house in a residential neighborhood, often called a group home or residential care home. Rates are commonly flat and all-in, and staffing ratios are typically higher than in large communities. Group home vs. assisted living →
- AZDHS (Arizona Department of Health Services)
- The state agency that licenses and inspects every assisted living facility in Arizona. Its inspection reports, complaint investigations, and enforcement actions are public records searchable online. How to check a facility's record →
- Care Level
- A community's internal tier (often Level 1–4 or a points system) that translates a resident's assessed needs into a monthly care fee added to base rent. Each level step typically adds $400–$800 per month in the East Valley, which is why all-in quotes matter more than advertised rents.
- Community Fee
- A one-time, usually non-refundable move-in charge — commonly $1,500–$5,000 in the East Valley — covering apartment turnover and administrative setup. Often negotiable, especially when a community has open apartments.
- Continuum of Care
- A campus or community offering multiple levels of care — independent living, assisted living, memory care, sometimes skilled nursing — so residents can move to higher care without leaving the property. Reduces the risk of a disruptive second move.
- Directed Care
- The highest of Arizona's three assisted living license levels, required for residents who can no longer direct their own care — including most people with significant dementia. If memory loss is in the picture, confirm a community holds a directed care license before you tour. Arizona licensing explained →
- Elopement
- When a resident with dementia leaves a building or campus unsupervised — the primary safety risk memory care is designed to prevent through secured doors, courtyards, and trained staff.
- Guardianship / Conservatorship
- Court processes Arizona requires when a person can no longer make decisions and has no power of attorney: a guardian makes care and placement decisions, a conservator manages finances. Slower and costlier than signing POA documents while capacity remains. Who signs if a parent has dementia? →
- Home Health
- Medicare-covered skilled services — nursing visits, physical or occupational therapy — delivered where a person lives, including inside assisted living. Different from non-medical in-home care, which is paid privately. In-home care vs. assisted living →
- Hospice
- Comfort-focused care for people with a life expectancy of six months or less, covered by Medicare. Hospice teams visit residents inside assisted living and memory care, which lets many people avoid a hospital or nursing home at end of life.
- Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)
- The more complex tasks of independent life: managing medications and money, cooking, housekeeping, shopping, driving, and using the phone. Trouble with IADLs usually appears before trouble with ADLs and is often the first sign a senior needs support.
- Level of Care Assessment
- The evaluation a community's nurse performs before move-in (and periodically after) to score a resident's needs across ADLs, medications, mobility, and cognition. Arizona requires it, and it drives the written service plan and the monthly care fee.
- Long-Term Care Ombudsman
- A free, state-backed advocate for residents of licensed care facilities. Ombudsmen investigate resident-rights concerns, mediate disputes with communities, and know local facilities' track records.
- Med Tech (Medication Technician)
- A trained, non-nurse caregiver who administers routine medications in assisted living under delegation. Ask who handles medications overnight — the answer reveals a community's real staffing depth.
- Memory Care
- A secured assisted living environment designed for people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias: locked or alarmed doors, higher staffing ratios, dementia-trained caregivers, and structured daily programming. In Arizona it generally requires a directed care license. Memory care in the East Valley →
- Power of Attorney (POA)
- A legal document naming an agent to act for someone else. Arizona families typically need three: durable financial POA, health care POA, and — for possible memory care placement — Arizona's mental health care POA. Must be signed while the person still has legal capacity. Who signs the paperwork? →
- Private Pay
- Paying for care from personal resources — income, savings, home equity, long-term care insurance, VA benefits — rather than through ALTCS. Most East Valley assisted living starts as private pay. How families pay for care →
- Respite Care
- A short-term, fully supported stay in an assisted living or memory care community — typically a few days to a few weeks at a daily rate. Used to give family caregivers a break, cover recovery after a hospital stay, or trial a community before committing. Respite care in the East Valley →
- Second Person Fee
- The monthly charge (roughly $800–$1,500 in the East Valley; the national median is $1,200 for assisted living, per A Place for Mom) added when a second person — usually a spouse — shares an apartment. Each person's care fees are assessed separately on top. Couples in assisted living →
- Service Plan
- The written care plan Arizona requires for every assisted living resident, built from the pre-move-in assessment and updated as needs change. It spells out exactly what help the community will provide — read it before signing.
- Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)
- A licensed nursing home providing 24/7 nursing and medical care — rehabilitation after hospitalization, wound care, IV therapy, and complex conditions. A higher (and costlier) level of care than assisted living or memory care; Medicare covers short rehab stays after a qualifying hospital admission. Memory care vs. nursing home →
- Spend-Down
- Using private assets to pay for care until reaching ALTCS's financial limits. Arizona looks back five years at asset transfers, so gifting money to family during a spend-down can create penalty periods — get elder law advice first. When the money runs out →
- Sundowning
- Increased confusion, agitation, or restlessness in the late afternoon and evening, common in people with dementia. Memory care programs schedule staffing and calming routines around it; frequent sundowning at home is a common trigger for a memory care move.
Heard a term we didn't cover?
Ask a local advisor — we'll explain it in plain English and tell you whether it matters for your family.
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