4 Tips for Finding the Perfect Nursing Home for Your Senior Parent

Depending on where you live, you may have hundreds of nursing homes to choose from and visiting them all would not be realistic. You can look at second-hand accounts and reviews to gauge whether a nursing home would be a good choice or not, but that’s not enough. Reviews and referrals can help, but they don’t tell the full picture. You’ll need to dig deeper to know if a nursing home is the right fit for your parent and if you can trust them. Let’s take a look at some tips you can follow to find the perfect nursing home for a senior parent.

Call Nursing Homes and Visit Them

Assemble a short list of well-known facilities in your area, facilities you found through browsing and searching online, and nursing homes that were recommended to you. Call them directly and gauge their approach from the beginning. If you instantly feel listened to and the person on the other line seems pleasant and willing to help, it is already a good sign. Getting a visit scheduled should be easy too.

Once you get to the premises, you need to start doing a visual inspection right away. Strong smells, stains, and signs of decay are all things that should raise red flags.

Go in and see how you’re greeted by the reception. Look at whether there’s security present and how professional they are. Determine whether you can see housekeeping staff around and if they seem overworked.

From then on you can start looking at rooms, but we suggest you pay special attention to the toilets and the kitchen/dining areas in the home first. These will give you a good indication of how seriously they take cleanliness.

Look at the Relationship Between Residents and Staff

Another thing we suggest you pay very special attention to is how the staff is interacting with patients. Check if they seem to have a genuine rapport. Check if the nursing staff seems to be happy doing their job. Unhappy or mean-looking staff is bad news and increases the likelihood of abuse, so be careful.

Look at their List of Services

You need to next ask them what the nursing home’s range of services is. If you happen to live in St. Louis, know that they have some of the best nursing homes in the country and any nursing home you pick should have a wide range of services.

Some nursing homes will offer the strict minimum while others will have everything from memory care, to therapy services, to cooking workshops and dance classes. If you are looking for a place that ticks all these boxes, you can check out one of these skilled nursing homes in St Louis right now.

Review the Contract Carefully

Once you’ve picked a nursing home, you have to be very careful to double-check the contract to make sure that you understand the terms. If you don’t understand something, ask the director for clarifications and don’t hesitate to call friends and family to look over the contract and give you their opinions.

These are all things that will help you find a great nursing home for a parent in need. Visit as many facilities as you can and ask as many questions as possible before you commit to anything.