Nursing Home Questions

Is the Nursing Home Licensed and Approved? The home must be approved by the regulatory body. Check to see if the home displays their license and if not you should ask them about it. If there is no proof of license, or if they are at all evasive don’t put your loved one there

What are the Facilities like? Take a look at the facilities available to the residents in the home. Don’t be afraid to ask to be shown round the home in order to see things yourself. Find out how many staff there are and what the rota is, if staff are too tired then they won't be up to caring for the elderly.  Check out the nursing home furniture and bed linen, is it old and worn, what does it smell like? 

Is the home Clean? Make sure that the home is clean at all times during your irregular visits. Don’t be fooled by the manicured lawn and flowerbeds, it's vital to look around indoors as well. Take notice of the smell of the home.  Does it smell clean and fresh or of stale body odour and bodily fluids?

What are the Staff like? This is very important. Try to get an overall picture of the type of staff in the home. Take note of how you are received. Are the staff friendly and polite? If they aren't polite to you then chances are they won't be polite to the residents either, and if that's the case then it should raise a red flag. Check to see if the residents are happy. Do the staff make eye contact with the residents when speaking to them?  Are the call buttons answered promptly?

Can the home accomodate someone who speaks another language? Check whether the home can handle language differences if your loved one speaks another language.

Can the resident have some of his/her own things around them?  It's very important that they have some things that are familiar in order to not feel totally alone.

This is not an exhaustive checklist but it will help you to find out some very important factors that must be taken into account when choosing a home for your loved one. Your own happiness and that of family and your loved one greatly depends on it.

Assuming that you have done the necessary checking around and you have, perhaps, got a short list of nursing home facilities what do you think would be the easiest way to narrow that list down to the best nursing home care? 

I have got a really neat little gizmo that will take all the hard work out of choosing which nursing home.  It's called - appropriately - "Choose It".  Really simple to use, you just type in whatever questions you want to know such as distance of the nursing home from your home, what it costs, anything you like and with a click of a button it will tell you the best nursing home for your loved one.  Not only that, it can also help you to decide many more things from the best insurance plan to the best personal CD recorder (which perhaps your relative would really appreciate).  Yes, just about anything you can't decide on it will help and what's really great is, it's FREE. 

Choosing a Nursing Home

Hospice or Nursing Home

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