How did you go about picking a nursing home?

SavannahTraci: There was only one Nursing Home in the town where my late mother resided. No choice there since EMS transported her from the hospital to the facility.

Go to Medicare.com. There you can find ratings of nursing homes, hospices—wherever they pay out. There an overall rating of one to five stars. Then they break it down to several categories. In addition to the overall rating, my primary criteria was care of the residents. I didn’t have much choice over the first two places and they were busy earning their one star rating.

When I decided to place my brother into hospice care, I was adamant about moving him from the nightmare place. Even hospice nurses didn’t like that he place. I looked up facilities that looked good to me and the hospice social worker called around. He ended up going to one that had an overall three star rating and five star for resident care. He has Medicare and Medicaid and nursing homes like to limit the number of beds with this kind of payment because it’s less than what a pay out of pocket payment would be. He’s actually improved. I also found this hospice on the Medicare website. It was one out of two that all the various ratings were high and above the national average and they’ve been great. I wish more people knew about Medicare’s rating system. And of course tour these facilities.

* Interview staff (Ask about the 'horrible things' you hear/d) and ask how they handle specific situations.
- ask if they have cameras in room or if you could put one in (or perhaps you do not need to ask them)
* Call an elder care attorney or an attorney that specializes in elder care/trusts
- they might have recommendations, working with elder and/or their families
* Talk to residents, if you can (or their family); ask for references.
- Just sit around and observe what's going on. Then start talking to people.
* Do a search for any legal issues (you might need to call a library to figure out how to do this; if any infractions / law suits, they should be public record.
* There should be an accreditation for nursing homes. Call them and ask questions.

Gena / Touch Matters

This is how I did it: Where my mom is right now is where my brother was last Fall, so I knew what the rehab was like. My mom is to stay in the same facility, but go to long term care there. I looked at the room, the window situation, peeked into some of the other rooms where residents were, observed the ones out in the hall in their wheelchairs as to how happy they were and how caregivers were responding to them. Then a woman in charge of events and activities called to ask what sorts of things my mom would like to do when she is a little better. Another place did the same, which I appreciate. The doctor who will see her twice a week gave me a call to go over his assessment. Where she is has all equipment needed for her care and I was uncertain the other place had enough staff. Where she is now is unfortunately the most expensive, but they can put her on medicaid if she ends up spending all her money. There are 2 other less expensive nursing homes close to me, but I've heard terrible things about them. This place she is in is only a few minutes away by car. I like that. I could walk, but there are 2 very busy streets to cross, so I will usually drive. Hope this helps.