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Finding the right nursing home requires homework and advance planning which is not always easy if you are working or have other obligations to fulfill. We can help with many of the details, free up your time and help you feel more in control.
Where Do I Begin?
When you start looking for a nursing
home, you’ll be given a list of homes by the Community Care Access Centre
(CCAC) along with the very detailed application form. They will not accompany you on the visits to
the nursing homes and although they will give you a check-list of what to look
for in a nursing home, it is only a provisional check-list, not an in-depth
check-list.
Who Books the Tours?
The CCAC will not book the appointments for
the tours to the nursing homes and they will not check the Ministry of Health
and Long Term Care website for the reports on the homes. You will be given the information to do this
for yourself.
Nursing homes have days and times when they
will allow tours and they do not encourage people to drop in at any time to
tour the home. If the tour is full when you need to go, you
may have to wait until the next available tour.
One Inspection Is Not Enough
Once you find a home or homes that interest
you, it cannot be stressed enough that one short visit is not enough to make a
decision. No matter how wonderful the
nursing home appears, several visits are in order. The inspection should also include the
surrounding neighbourhood. This is a
time-consuming venture in the same way that buying a house requires several
visits before a final decision is made.
The CCAC cannot help you with multiple visits; that is up to you and
your family to organize.
How Long Before My Loved-One Can Move In?
On any given day in Toronto, there are about 1440 people waiting
for placement into a nursing home. That
number is expected to increase as the Boomer generation ages.
Typically, “good” homes, those homes with
an excellent reputation, have very long waiting lists. You cannot put your name down to go to those
homes before you have been qualified to do so by your Case Manager from the
CCAC.
It would be difficult for the social worker
or home operator to tell you when you can expect an opening for your loved
one. No one can reasonably guess when a
bed will become vacant and the nursing homes do not know how many people are
before you on the waiting list. There
may be people on the list that need emergency placements and they will be able
to move in before your loved one. Beds
become empty when someone dies or when someone is moved to a different floor or
different home. The waiting lists change
daily. |
