10.07.10
Choosing a Nursing Home without Fear or Guilt
Let’s face it: Assisted Living is a happy subject, but the nursing home thing, for many families, is just… well, it’s just not a good option. There is a feeling of uneasiness, fear, and guilt that comes with the topic.Nursing homes are not all bad, to be sure. But we have been affected by the lawsuits, the under cover investigations, and yes, even by our own negative experiences in the past.
Nursing homes are dealing with their bad reputation. In truth, they have been forced to fix things. The government performs regular investigations throughout the year, and there are number of private nursing home rating agencies and websites. Not only do these sites report on the results of health inspections and the like, they also talk openly about lawsuits and complaints that have been filed against the business. Thanks to the internet, if some visitor to a nursing home notices that a patient has been neglected for hours on end, he can do something besides vent: he can go on line and tell the world about what he saw.[ad#ad-1]
Does this fix the problems that we are all familiar with? The problems of neglect, poor living conditions, and harshness of nursing home staff? Not yet. But one thing is clear: things are better than they used to be.
If you have to put your loved one in full time nursing care, you are probably struggling with those feelings of uneasiness, fear, and even guilt. Maybe you would like to care for them at home, but you cannot. And so you feel guilty about bringing them to a drab nursing home where they will mostly lie in their bed, and, you fear, waste away while the nurses forget about them.
Do a great favor to yourself by researching a bit ahead of time, and continuing to check in afterwards. Here’s what I mean:
Two Steps to Choosing a Nursing Home without Fear or Guilt
1) Research: As I mentioned, there are websites you can go to just to check on nursing home ratings. The most well known is US News & World Report’s nursing home rankings. The report can also be found in a different form on Medicare’s website.
Other independent sites include nursing-homes-ratings.com and www.carepathways.com. And remember that you can be empowered here, too. If you have bad experiences, you can share them with the world. You are not powerless.
2) Check in: After you have chosen a nursing home, be sure to keep up the investigative work. That means going to the nursing home to check up on your loved one often. Do it in the morning, and in the evening. Go unannounced. Ask questions, not just to your loved one, but ask other patients, too, how they are feeling, if they are being well cared for. And, most of all, be open with your questions and conversations with the staff. Communicate your expectations. After all, they are working for you and your loved one. You are hiring them.
If something goes wrong, be sure to confront the problem, and report, report, report! Nursing homes with repeated patterns of neglect can be shut down. Even the threat of this may be enough to correct the issue at hand. Just remember that you have the power to change the environment for the sake of your loved one. And if it does not change, you can take your money elsewhere and put them in a better place.
Choosing a nursing home is not easy. In fact, next to hospice care, this is the most difficult choice a person can make regarding elderly care. But at least you can make sure you are making a loving decision for your parent or grandparent by securing their environment, and making sure it stays safe.