Take some stress out of choosing a nursing home

Numerous resources are available on the internet to help you choose the right nursing home for an ailing parent or loved one. They tell you what questions to ask and what characteristics to look for in a nursing facility. In fact, following are some links to several of those helpful sites. 

Medicare.gov
AARP.org
NIA.nih.org

However, this article adds a twist to that search process, by encouraging you to be forward thinking. Most nursing home research and placement is reactionary when you’re knee deep in crisis mode. Arming yourself with knowledge and preparation is vital to making a more sound and well-paced decision. So, if your loved one is facing major health issues or a medical professional is telling you “it’s time,” what can you do to make this process a bit easier? 

Practice Proactivity

Pre-planning is certainly easier said than done, but you should be as proactive as you can be. It’s not unlike pre-planning a funeral; a bit depressing yes, but very necessary. If it’s clear your loved one’s health is rapidly declining, doing some preliminary research on nursing homes is extremely helpful. The same can be said for assisted living or personal care home placement. Planning ahead also gives your loved one a bigger role in the decision-making process, which is very important. Furthermore, making a choice for future need doesn’t seal their fate for actually needing it. Just like pre-planning your funeral won’t actually send you to an early grave!

Don’t decide at the Eleventh Hour

If you start this emotional and arduous search as mom lay in a hospital bed possibly unable to express her wishes, you will find yourself in a precarious spot. Racing around to tour several nursing homes while you’re still in shock or dismay about your mom’s condition is also an unpleasant spot to be in. Plus, with the ever-shrinking length of hospitalizations, it doesn’t give you much leeway to research and choose a facility before she’s being discharged. In some cases families are compelled to take the first or only option for nursing placement that’s given to them. And quite often it’s not a facility that you would’ve ever picked yourself.
So gather your internet questionnaires, do your early research, take tours, and even submit applications for down the road. This will alleviate some of the mental and emotional strain of making this difficult choice, if and when it needs to be made.

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