Currently where I reside in the western United States, there are many rest homes and assisted living centers nearby where elderly people go to live. Within about a five mile radius of our business, there are about five facilities with one right next door to our building.

In the assisted living centers, the people that live there are somewhat independent. They usually have their meals cooked for them, entertainment planned, and transportation provided to go places. However, people residing in rest homes need more constant care, both physical and medical. Both rest homes and assisted living centers are usually very expensive.

When I lived in Latin America, I asked several of the locals if there were “rest homes” in the area. It took me quite a while to even figure out what the word for “rest home” was in Spanish, because only a few Latin Americans were familiar with them. After asking a few local friends, I finally found out that the word for “rest home” in Spanish is “asilo de ancianos”. The interesting part of that name is that “ancianos” means “ancient” or “elderly”, and the word “asilo” means “asylum”, “refuge” or “shelter”. So basically, if it is directly translated, it would be called an “elderly asylum” or “elderly shelter”. (more…)