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Making the Right Choice When Choosing Long Term Care
Often, it’s a health crisis that creates the need-a nasty fall, an illness or injury and suddenly your family is facing the challenge of choosing rehabilitative or long-term care for someone. How do you make the best choice? What questions should you ask? With all the options available, it can be intimidating.
- Start the process by asking other friends and family where they have had positive experiences. Then check the Medicare website, and click on the “compare nursing homes” link to see how each facility ranks in comparison with others using Medicare’s standardized quality indicators. Finally, plan a visit to the facilities with the social workers. You might even want to use a checklist, so that you ask the same questions each time.
- Cover the basics first: is the facility certified by Medicare and Medicaid? Does it have the level of care (skilled) or types of services (rehabilitation, dementia/memory units, etc.) you need? If you’re envisioning a short-term stay for rehabilitation, does the facility have the appropriate therapies available? If needing care between the nursing facility and home, is there an assisted living option available for that transitional care? Is the facility close enough for friends and family to visit?
- Look around. Are the residents tidy and appropriately dressed? Does the facility look clean and comfortable, with good lighting, without significant unpleasant odors?
- How about the staff? As you watch them interact with residents, are they caring, polite, respectful? Do the residents have the same staff team caring for them the majority of the time? How many patients are cared for by an individual Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)? How much one-to-one time do the CNAs spend with the individual resident? Do they have a restorative program to maximize a resident’s abilities? Is there a full-time Registered Nurse (RN) on staff at all times? What kind of turnover has there been for management and staff?
- Assess the resident’s room: can they have some of their personal belongings? Is there a window? Do they have access to television, telephone, computer? Is there a choice of roommates?
- Plan on eating a few meals at the facility. Ask about availability of favorite foods, and check what’s planned for upcoming menus. Are alternatives available to the main menu choices? Does the staff help residents eat or drink if needed? Are snacks readily available when desired by the resident?
- How about planned activities? The socialization and mental stimulation of a well-developed activity calendar are often as important as the physical healing. Check if there are regularly scheduled events. Is there a chaplain on staff, with regularly scheduled services? How about an outdoor area where residents can enjoy gardens, pets or special activities?
- Finally, assess the overall safety: Are there regular care plan meetings, emergency plans, preventive care (like flu shots) for residents? Have they had a recent state inspection? If so, have they corrected any of the deficiencies that were found?
Selecting a long-term care facility is an important decision, often made at a very difficult time for a family. At Elim Care, we welcome questions about senior housing and healthcare options because we want to help families make the best choices for their loved ones.
For more information, contact Elim Care at (952)259-4500.
