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Wandering has become a concern

When staying home stops being viable, and what a secured memory care unit actually requires in your state.

Quick answer

When staying home stops being viable, and what a secured memory care unit actually requires in your state.

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Home›By Situation›Wandering has become a concern

Exit-seeking changes the calculation more than almost any other symptom, because it converts a supervision problem into a safety one.

Short answer

When staying home stops being viable, and what a secured memory care unit actually requires in your state.

What to do, in order

  1. Recognise what has changed. Exit-seeking converts a supervision problem into a safety one.
  2. Take practical steps immediately. Door alarms, secured exits, and enrolment in a wandering-response program.
  3. Understand your state's requirement. New York requires SNALR certification for a community to be licensed for dementia-specific memory care -- ask to see it by name.
  4. Ask specific questions on tours. How are exits secured, what happens when a resident tries a door, what is the overnight staffing ratio inside the secured unit specifically.

Questions families ask

What does a nursing home cost per day in New York?

CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey puts the New York State median at $511 per day ($15,528/month, $186,333/year) for a semi-private room and $550 per day ($16,729/month, $200,750/year) for a private room, both based on 365 days of care. These are statewide figures; CareScout does not publish a separate Long Island-specific nursing home rate.

How much does hourly in-home caregiving cost in New York?

CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey reports a New York State median of $35 per hour for what it now calls non-medical caregiver services, a category that merged the formerly separate homemaker services and home health aide categories in 2025 due to price convergence. Based on a 44-hour week, that works out to roughly $6,673 per month or $80,080 per year. Private duty nursing, a higher-acuity service, runs a New York State median of $120 per hour.

What does adult day care cost in New York, and could it help delay a move to assisted living?

CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey puts New York State's Adult Day Health Care median at $144 per day, or about $3,120 per month based on five days a week, $37,440 per year. That's up from $113 per day in the 2024 survey, an increase of roughly 27 percent year over year, the largest percentage jump among CareScout's surveyed New York categories.

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