How to Choose A Nursing Home for Your Parent

Choosing a nursing home for your loved one can be difficult and often time stressful. Where do you start?  Are there tools you can you use to choose which one is best? When a family faces the task of finding a caring home for their loved one it can be difficult because it is important to find the best care and because it likely is a once in a lifetime task.

Choosing the Best Nursing Home for Your Parent

The senior industry is so vast that it can take hundreds of hours for you to search through all the available options.To get the best care, at the lowest cost, in the “right” area most people find that it is best to use an expert like the senior advisors at Living Well. We have researched all the options and know the senior housing industry very well. We continuously spend thousands of hours researching and visiting senior homes and communities. We provide all our services for free. We do a personal interview to understand your loved ones unique needs and then narrow down the choices for you. Then, we will set up the tours and accompany you on them - advising you about the unique attributes of each community.  Finally, we assist in negotiating a fair price.  Our goal is to make sure you and your loved one are happy with your choice and removing much of the stress for you so you can focus on your loved one.

What You Should Look for in a Nursing Home:

There are so many nursing homes available (and more being built everyday) that it can be an overwhelming task to narrow them down. First, you need to take a look at your loved ones needs.

Start by Making a List of the Following:

1. Location preference: where is the best place for them to live? Somewhere that is close to family or friends? A close distance to doctors or a hospital?
2. Budget: will your loved one have enough money if their health declines and care requirements increase? Living Well works to find a place within your budget that your loved one can stay in for the rest of their lives. Many places will accept a spend down after a certain amount of time and then will accept Medicaid. We have sought those places out and know which ones will work for your budget.
3. Health Needs: how much care does your loved one need? Do they need help with daily living activities such as dressing, toileting, eating, taking medication, walking? Some communities will increase their price as care needs increase and some keep the same set price.
4. Social Needs: is your loved one in a place where they want social activities and friends to socialize with? Or would they rather have a quiet room and keep to themselves? Do they want outings, games and social hour? Or are they in a place where that is just too much? Each community has their own culture and lifestyle and we can help find the right one for your loved one.

Once you figure out the top needs for your loved one, we will narrow down the choices and look more closely at each senior community.

Visiting Nursing Homes

When visiting each community you will want to observe the other residents. Do they seem clean and well cared for? It's great to talk with other residents or the family members of those who live there to see what it is like and if they are happy with the care. You will want to ask what kind of visiting hours they have, if they can provide meals for special diets and are the meals included in the cost or is it a separate fee? Try having lunch or dinner at the senior community so you can see what the food is like. Some communities have a chef that provides healthy, nutritious, made from scratch meals while others have a bland, basic food menu.  Does the community provide transportation to doctor's appointments? Do they have an RN on staff or how often is one available?

Partnering with Living Well

Living Well advisors help you ask all the right questions. We have a list of Top 50 questions to ask when deciding on a senior community. Most people only have to find a senior community once or twice in a lifetime, so it is extremely difficult to navigate the maze of senior living. That is why we love helping people find the best home. We love helping seniors and their families, knowing that we provide a service to help take away some stress and ease their mind. It is our privilege to take care of your loved one and consider it an honor to guide you through this process. Please give us a call if you or your loved one need assistance finding a senior community, we look forward to helping you.