As a caregiver, there will come a time when you and the rest of your senior’s family will have to decide what’s the best thing to do now that your senior will require a different kind of care especially medical and assistive that cannot be fulfilled by someone who doesn’t have enough medical experience such as yourself.
Your senior’s doctor is most likely to be the one to advise you when it’s time to move your senior to a residential home however, no matter how prepared you are for this, finding the perfect residential home for your senior can still get quite tricky. Below are some of the useful tips to help you find a suitable home for your senior:
* Educate yourself. It helps to know that you have many options to choose from depending on your senior’s needs. Even the cost can be a factor in choosing the right residential home for your senior. Best to start your hunt by talking to the senior’s doctor and ask what specifically are required in caring for your senior. Ask them for referrals too. If you have funding problems, it is best to tell the doctor too.
* Assess your senior’s capabilities. Can they still move around on their own? Would they need assistance when bathing or dressing up? Or perhaps when preparing their food as well as eating? These are the things that every residential home needs to know.
* Take into consideration your needs too. Of course, location is important to ensure your comfort when visiting the senior and staying in touch. Also, you might want to move your senior to home nearer to your place just in case you need to go to the residential home in short notice.
* Look up services. There are private services offered to families who are clueless as to what to do and where to start. Private placement services will take care of everything for you and your senior.
* Don’t expect it to be easy. Except maybe if your senior is already incapacitated. Expect a lot of resistance from your senior as well as other family members so make it a point to always include them in planning.
* Visit prospective sites. This is the only way you can get the feel of the place which will determine if your senior will like it there or not. While you’re there, take some time to observe how the staff interact with their residents and if the residents are happy and calm.
* Check the facility’s license. Just because a residential home looks good doesn’t mean your senior will like it there. Of course, appearance isn’t always everything.