Keep These Tips In Mind When Shopping Nursing Homes & Assisted Living Facilities
If you’re interested in independent living for your parent, check out Medical Alert Devices, bestmedicalalertbracelets.org, and bestmedicalalertsystems.org for more information on medical alert systems for seniors.
against the world” situation. But if the senior citizen you are caring for has little fight left in them, it seems it’s up to you to make sure that your elderly mom or dad get all they have coming. Just because a person becomes a senior citizen, that doesn’t mean their fundamental rights go away. They deserve and should expect to be treated with respect and for those taking care of them to live up to expectations.
While there is no formal “Senior Citizens Bill of Rights”, there are laws written about how senior care facilities must treat their residents. And even if your mother or father is in an assisted care facility and not a nursing home, there are some basic expectations that were in that contract and that are fundamentally assumed that the facility will live up to. And its up to you as the caregiver to make sure they are living up to what is expected of them.
First of all, the facility where your senior citizen resides should be able to provide the basics of safety and cleanliness. Look at the evacuation plan for the building in the event of a fire or another emergency that would mean evacuating your parent out of the building. Is it a plan that is clear and is it realistic considering the entire facility is full of elderly people who may not move very fast? And what about emergency power? In the event of an emergency where the power goes off early, is there emergency backup power to operate elevators and automatic doors so everyone can get out?
If the establishment offers food service as part of their package of services and if there is a charge for that service, there is a basic expectation that there will be meals made available three times a day, that it will be healthy food and that your parent will never be refused service. It is also not out of line to expect that the food could be delivered to the senior citizens’ rooms if your parent is ill or injured.
As we mentioned earlier, your parent didn’t lose their rights as an individual when they move into an assisted care facility. If your parent is paying to rent that apartment, they have a right to live as they please in there. Within certain constraints because they are in a community setting such as keeping noise down after bedtime and so on, your senior should be able to do what they want to do in the privacy of their dwelling without interference from others in the community or from the staff of the complex. This includes having guests, letting family or friends to sleep over, how the apartment is decorated and what kind of music your parent enjoys.
A right that really cannot be detailed but can be felt dramatically is your parent’s right to be treated with dignity, compassion and respect. This is an intangible but how the staff of the facility treat the seniors means a lot to your parent when they see these people every day. It’s not out of line to expect the staff and management of the facility to know your parents names and to greet them warmly when they come down to eat or go to a social event.
If the staff of the facility have to work directly with your parent, it should be done respectfully and pleasantly. If your parent reports being verbally or emotionally abused by the staff, that is cause for you to investigate and hold that facility to account for that problem.
Remember the old saying that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. So if the facility needs to be reminded of their responsibilities, you be that squeaky wheel. Be your parents advocate so that they can live in a place where they enjoy their days and feel that this is a place they can genuinely call home.