Common Assisted Living Retirement Home Questions 5 | Are you a locked facility?
We are not a “locked” facility. No facility licensed as a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE), or assisted living facility, is allowed under California state regulations to lock their doors to their residents. The philospohy of assisted living is to provide a homelike living environment, in which the residents retain as much independence as is safe for them.
We do, however, secure our doors with a delayed egress system. This means, when somebody initially pushes on the exit door without a key, it will not open and an alarm will sound to alert the staff. After 15 seconds, if the alarm has not been answered, the door will then open. This system is very effective in caring for residents who have the tendency to wander. 15 seconds is ample time, in a community of our size, for our 24-hour awake staff to respond and redirect the resident away from the door and back to another part of the building.
