All You Should Know About Senior Living Communities

Ask These Questions When Selecting a Senior Living Community

Making the Right Choice

Selecting a Central Florida retirement community or senior living facility for an aging parent sometimes can be challenging. Long-term care assisted living and independent living are some options available. How to decide which one is best can be overwhelming.

Discuss your parent’s needs with a facility admissions official. Individuals who can not take care of themselves on a day-to-day basis will require skilled nursing care 24 hours a day.

That needing help with minor tasks such as dressing, bathing, and cooking lives in an assisted living facility. The staff prepares and serves meals. The nursing staff interacts with the assisted living resident several times a day.

Independent living residents can bath and dress but have staff prepare meals and light cleaning. Residents request nursing care when needed.

Safety Concerns

Safety is the primary concern for children of aging parents. Speak openly with the admissions officer about safety rules and regulations. There are rules a resident must follow and state-mandated regulations the facility must adhere to.

The website www.medicare.gov offers information about nursing facility quality and safety. The state licensing department and the Better Business Bureau can provide information on facilities.

Deciding on a senior living facility or community takes time. It’s a process that needs consideration years in advance before a parent needs care. Research various facilities and communities will produce a compatible match for the parent and the facility. It’s difficult to find a proper facility if a serious illness suddenly occurs.

Ask Questions

Knowing about a Central Florida retirement community safety record and services will help you narrow your choices when you’re choosing a senior living community. Once you have a shortlist, you must visit each facility and talk to the managers, health care providers, and residents.

Make sure you get the answers to the following questions to ask senior living communities:

1. Is the facility licensed and operating legally?

There are many private homes that offer senior care for those individuals that do not have insurance or can not afford to pay high room rates. Steer clear of these cheap, illegal nursing facilities. Ask to see the state-issued license.

2. It the facility license active or revoked?

Has the facility ever had its license suspended or revoked? Was it for unlicensed nurses, sanitary conditions, or a high amount of resident deaths? Ask to Department of Health inspection reports. If it sounds suspicious, or the facility hesitates at producing reports, look somewhere else.

3. How long has the facility been in operation?

Is the local nursing facility part of a franchise or chain of care facilities? Are the day-to-day operations overseen from a national office? Are the quality control standards followed?

4. Are financial records available?

Is the facility financially stable or is it losing money? A money-losing operation will cut corners on providing residents needed care. Poor food quality, unsanitary conditions, and insufficient nursing care can be a threat to the resident’s health.

5. What is the resident to staff ratio?

Knowing a Central Florida retirement community staff ratio is critical for proper parental care. A high ratio of residents to staff means there isn’t enough staff to provide adequate residents and safe care.

6. What training does the staff receive?

Are nurses certified? Is the kitchen staff trained in proper and safe food handling procedures? Is the housekeeping staff thorough in maintaining a clean environment, free of toxins, debris, and mold?