Rydel Long Term Care Planning

Looking for a nursing home?  Here are a few tips we hope you can use to evaluate each home and long term care facility. 

Remember, everyone has different needs and requirements.  We can help assess your needs and tell you what to look for.

• Look for a nursing home in your area.  You might have an ideal nursing home in mind but if it is not near you, will you find time to visit your relative?
• If you’re using transit, is the home easily accessible?  Is there parking available?
• Once inside, does it smell clean?  Does it look as if it is in good repair?
• What do the residents look like?  Are they clean?  Are they sitting alone in their rooms or left alone in their beds?  Are they restrained?  Do they looked drugged?
• Notice how the staff interacts with the residents.  Do they touch them gently?  Do they smile at them?  Do they know their names and address them using their names?  Do they talk to them as adults?
  
• Ask to see the activity schedule.  Is it varied?  Is there ample opportunity for residents to interact with each other?
• Ask to see the menus for several days worth of meals.  Is there a variety? 
  
• Look at the dining room.  Is it set up so that people can interact with each other?  Try to visit at meal time.  Observe whether there is any hand feeding of the residents by the staff, or are residents expected to feed themselves.
• Can you have a meal in the dining room? (You may have to pay for the meal). 
• Do the rooms look and smell clean?
• Are there areas on each floor where the residents can gather?
• Are there different levels of care in the home?  If your relative has been there for some time and needs a different level of care, could the home provide it?
• If you like the home, check what some of the residents are wearing; go back the next day to see if they are still wearing the same clothes.  Residents in nursing homes do not have to have a bath or shower every day. 
• Is there a smoking area and is it monitored?