Choosing the Right Nursing Home for Your Loved One

When You Decide to Move Your Loved One to a Nursing Home

Making the difficult decision to move your loved one to a nursing home or long-term care facility can be overwhelming. However, to ensure that your loved one gets the care they need, it’s imperative to find the right nursing home for them.

There are many things to consider when choosing the right nursing home for your loved one, including the location, the needs of your loved one, and if you see signs of nursing home abuse.

In The Article

Nursing Home Locations

Many people consider a nursing home’s location to be the most important. A nursing home closer to where you live or plan on living can make consistent visits easier on you and allow you to get to your loved one faster, if there is an emergency. A nursing home’s location can also help you narrow down your choices.

Should your loved one need a specialized facility, consider looking into locations that are close to other family members you trust.

Your Loved One’s Needs in a Nursing Home

When you think about the unique needs of your family member, his or her physical needs likely come to mind first. It is important that your loved one has reliable access to quality healthcare, can enjoy nutritious meals, and feel comfortable in their room and you should by no means compromise in those areas.

However, their psychological and emotional needs are equally important. Consider whether your family member will truly feel comfortable in the place you’re considering. If you’re visiting the facility together, be attentive to any verbal or non-verbal clues your loved one may give you about how they feel about their prospective new home.

Nursing Home Checklist

The Nursing Home Checklist is a resource provided by Medicare.gov that can help you decide whether the nursing home you’re visiting is up to an acceptable standard. Some of the checklist’s detailed questions include the following:

• Are the residents clean, well groomed, and appropriately dressed for the season or time of day?
• Is the nursing home free from overwhelming unpleasant odors?
• Does the nursing home have good lighting?

This list can help you to consider things you may not have thought to pay attention to and to accurately gauge the quality of care your elderly loved one is likely to receive there. Using this or a similar checklist will make your search for the right nursing home both more focused and more productive and can help you to avoid putting your family member’s physical or psychological health at risk.

What is Nursing Home Abuse?

When visiting a nursing home, make sure to always look for signs of nursing home abuse. Elder abuse, or nursing home abuse can be defined as “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.”

While most governmental agencies admit that it is difficult to put an estimate on the number of individual abuse cases in the U.S., it is generally acknowledged that the problem affects millions, of American adults over the age of 60 every year. Sadly, as reported by Weill Cornell Medicine, on the international level, only “1 in 24 cases of elder abuse is reported to the authorities,” which not only makes the scope of the problem difficult to gauge but it also limits the protective measures agencies and individuals can take to protect the vulnerable elderly residents of our country.

Elder abuse, though common, doesn’t happen in all nursing homes. In fact, the majority of such institutions are adequately staffed and equipped to provide professional and compassionate care for your elderly ones. There are signs that you can look for, if you’re concerned about nursing home abuse.

Common Signs of Elder Abuse

Unfortunately, elder abuse may happen even in the facilities that give the best impression and enjoy the best reputation. Learning to recognize the symptoms of abuse is a responsibility that those with a loved one in a nursing facility should take seriously. For a more in-depth look at how to recognize elder abuse, see an earlier article we published on the topic, 7 Common Signs of Nursing Home Abuse

Common signs of abuse include:

• Weight loss and malnutrition
• Frequent falls
• Infections
• Changes in the mood
• Bed sores

What to Do If You See Signs of Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes

It is critical to take action immediately if you notice any of these symptoms. Remember that the law protects elders from abuse and perpetrators can be charged with both criminal and civil charges. If your family member has been injured as a result of neglect or abuse in a nursing home, you might be able to pursue a personal injury lawsuit and claim financial compensation for the injuries. Contact Ron Bell Injury Lawyers today for your free case evaluation.