Things to Look for in a Nursing Home

If you are looking to move a loved one into senior housing or assisted living facilities then you will need to compare nursing homes to one another and find out which one will be best for your loved one. It can be a difficult time having to do this and you want to make sure that your loved one is well cared for. They need the balance of care and independence. Here are a few things that you can look out for when looking to compare nursing homes.

Staff Friendliness
No one likes to be treated badly. This is unfortunately the stigma of nursing homes because of one or two places that have a bad reputation. However, when you have to compare nursing homes this is the number one thing you want to look for. Staff should be engaged with the residents, know them by name and remember things about their lives and families. Family is all that some elderly people have left and they want to know that the staff will welcome and appreciate their family as much as they do. If your loved one lives in the nursing home for long enough, the staff will become his or her family and they will want each of their families to get along with one another. This is why it\’s important that the staff not only be friendly and kind to the residents but also to their families.

Cleanliness
Check out the facilities. Are the bathrooms and showers kept up to standard? What about the kitchen? You want to make sure that your loved one isn\’t going to be dealing with mold or bed bugs. You shouldn\’t have to compare nursing homes to cheap motels. They should be more like resorts where the resident can be taken care of and not worry about a thing anymore. They deserve that much after everything they have been through in life. Checking for cleanliness also includes finding out if the staff will remind residents to wash hands after using the restroom and how often the cleaning schedule is adhered to and if there even is a cleaning schedule.

Personal Care
You know that your loved one needs help tying their shoelaces and cutting their fingernails and shaving their face but these may be things that you need to tell the nursing home. At least find out what their policy on personal care is. Some of the more independent places will have the family take care of personal grooming when they come to visit and some will offer it as a service. Other homes will leave it up to the resident to decide. Often times the resident will prefer the home to take care of it because they don\’t want to be a burden to the family but other residents prefer family to be involved because of feeling embarrassed at being groomed by a stranger. Listen to your loved one and let them know what they want is what will happen.

Eating Schedule
Elderly people can tend to forget to feed themselves at times and then begin to lose dangerous amounts of weight. One of the most important things about living in a nursing home is that they will have meals cooked for them and given to them at certain times to ensure that they have eaten a nutritious meal at the proper times. As important as eating on a schedule is, so is what they eat. Make sure that the home is offering a balanced and nutritious meal that your loved one will enjoy. There\’s nothing wrong with dessert and snacks every now and again but in order to keep up strength and vitality, you need to make sure your loved one is getting the nutrients and calories that they need.

Once you find a home that you are happy with, you can have the peace of mind that your loved one will enjoy their stay there. It can be hard as the care giver or family member to see you loved one need that 24 hour care but you have to remember that this is best for them. It may be hard for them to have you be the caregiver since they took care of you your whole life.