|
|
|
Serving Philadelphia, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Chester County since 1996.
|
|
Nursing Home Selection
Choosing and Evaluating a Nursing Home
Can there be a more difficult job than finding a nursing home for a parent or spouse?
No one wants to live in a nursing home.
They serve as institutions of last resort when it's impossible to provide the necessary care in any other setting.
And, typically, the search takes place under the gun — when a hospital or rehabilitation center is threatening discharge
or it's no longer possible for the loved one to live at home.
Finally, in most cases, finding the right nursing home is a once-in-a-lifetime task, one you're taking on without
the experience of having done it before.
4 Simple Rules to Help You Decide
There are a few rules of thumb that can help you choose and evaluate among nursing homes:
- Location, location, location. No single factor is more important to quality of care and quality of life of a
nursing home resident than visits by family members.
Care is often better if the facility knows someone's watching and cares.
Visits can be the high point of the day or week for the nursing home resident.
So, make it as easy as possible for family members and friends to visit.
- Get references.
Ask the facility to provide the names of family members of residents so you can ask them about the care provided
in the facility and the staff's responsiveness when the resident or relatives raise concerns.
- Talk to the nursing home administrator or nursing staff about how care plans are developed for residents and
how they respond to concerns expressed by family members.
Make sure you are comfortable with the response.
It is better that you meet with and ask questions of the people responsible for care and not just the person
marketing the facility
- Tour the nursing home.
Try not to be impressed by a fancy lobby or depressed by an older, more rundown facility.
What matters most is the quality of care and the interactions between staff and residents.
See what you pick up about how well residents are attended to and whether they are treated with respect.
Also, investigate the quality of the food service.
Eating is both a necessity and a pleasure that continues even when we're unable to enjoy much else.
Next Topic - Talking with Family About Placement
|
 |
Call Us: (610) 446-9626
Fax Us: (610) 446-9985 |
Visit our offices:
17 Mifflin Ave. Suite 202
Havertown, PA 19083 |
| Schedule a Consultation |
|
