Choosing the Right Assisted Living Facility
When selecting an assisted living facility try and determine the needs of the individual who will be living there. Assisted living facilities are not nursing homes where medical or nursing care is provided. Assisted living facilities are for individuals who cannot live alone any longer but need assistance with the activities of daily living. Such activities as assistance with dressing, bathing/showering, and medication management are the most requested services. Other services, usually known as hotel services, are also provided, such as housekeeping, laundry of personal clothing, changing of room linens, all meals and snacks and scheduled leisure time activities to keep residents entertained as well as stimulated.
If a resident does need medical or nursing care, it usually can be brought into the assisted living facility from a home care nursing agency and cost is usually covered by insurance, either medicare, private health insurance or medicaid.
Once it is determined that an assisted living facility is the correct living environment, gather names and telephone numbers of various facilities located in the area desired. This can be done by calling your county Office for the Aging, the telephone directory yellow pages or word of mouth by asking someone who may know of such facilities or the physician for the individual seeking such living arrangements.
Choosing the right facility now takes a little leg work. Call the facilities you are interested in and make an appointment to visit. Once there have a list of questions to ask or find out through the visit and tour. Ask to see the weekly menus, do they provide individual diets as prescribed by a doctor, are menus selective or not, are mealtimes flexible, how is medication supervision handled, is showering or bathing done in the individuals private bath or in a congregate shower area, is there a call system in each room to call for assistance if necessary, is the pricing system inclusive of all services or is there cafeteria pricing where each service has a price added to a monthly base cost and also important to ask is what happens if an individual runs out of funds and cannot any longer afford the monthly charge?
While touring a facility ask residents if they like living there. One must be aware that not all residents have good memories or cognitive thinking. Look at activity schedules to see that there is a variety of activities to meet individual needs. Be sure the facility is licensed by an appropriate agency, usually the department of health.
If several facilities are acceptable, let the individual have as much say in the selection as possible. Moving out of one’s home and into a group living experience can be traumatic enough, so as much choice as possible be given to the individual moving makes adjustment a little more positive.
