I have no idea where to start. I used a referral service for the assisted living home that my sister has been in but they don’t refer to nursing homes and I’ve heard nothing but horrible things about them. If you’ve chosen a nursing home for a loved one, how did you go about doing this?
When I decided to place my brother into hospice care, I was adamant about moving him from the nightmare place. Even hospice nurses didn’t like that he place. I looked up facilities that looked good to me and the hospice social worker called around. He ended up going to one that had an overall three star rating and five star for resident care. He has Medicare and Medicaid and nursing homes like to limit the number of beds with this kind of payment because it’s less than what a pay out of pocket payment would be. He’s actually improved. I also found this hospice on the Medicare website. It was one out of two that all the various ratings were high and above the national average and they’ve been great. I wish more people knew about Medicare’s rating system. And of course tour these facilities.
- ask if they have cameras in room or if you could put one in (or perhaps you do not need to ask them)
* Call an elder care attorney or an attorney that specializes in elder care/trusts
- they might have recommendations, working with elder and/or their families
* Talk to residents, if you can (or their family); ask for references.
- Just sit around and observe what's going on. Then start talking to people.
* Do a search for any legal issues (you might need to call a library to figure out how to do this; if any infractions / law suits, they should be public record.
* There should be an accreditation for nursing homes. Call them and ask questions.
Gena / Touch Matters