Next to choosing somewhere to live for yourself choosing a retirement facility for your aging parents can be one of the most difficult decisions that you can face in your adult life. They worked hard to raise you and, let’s be honest, you wouldn’t even be here without them. But very few of us will have any experience of deciding this.
Evaluate the Staff
How do the staff treat the residents? Are they respectful and treat the people living there as normal human beings living in their own homes? This should be the benchmark for any residential place. It’s surprising how many people think that residents are intellectually inferior based solely on their age.
What Are the Oher Residents Like?
You can tell a lot about a place by looking around and seeing how happy or otherwise, the residents seem to be. If there are a lot of smiles, chatter, and laughter then that tells its own story. It’s even possible that there is a bullying issue which sounds odd in a retirement setting but if you think about it every place you’ve studied worked or even spent some time in you will know that assholes are fairly common in all walks of life.
How Clean is it?
The place should be clean and presentable as an absolute minimum, anything else is pretty much abuse. You should ask to see the eating and cooking facilities as this will give a clear indication of how seriously they take the cleanliness of the facility. Other areas to be concerned about seeing are residential rooms and bath or shower facilities.
What are the Outdoor Facilities Like?
In the good weather, it is important to be able to get out into the garden areas. In many places, it is even possible to do some gardening of their own. This can be important to give a sense of ownership of their space. Nice features such as ball outdoor fountains can be really helpful.
Are There Many Activities?
As well as the physical spaces in the facility it is what is going on that can make or break the experience of staying there. The big question is, ‘Are there any activities organized’. These can be split into two different categories, entertainment in the facility itself and then secondly trips out to other attractions. These should not be too difficult to organize as many places offer group and/or senior discounts. Basically, if the place doesn’t have any of this then life can very quickly get quite tedious and boring for the resident.
What are the Visiting Hours?
Now you may be moving your elderly parent into a facility however this doesn’t mean you don’t want to spend time with them. So, the visiting hours are going to be very important so that they fit around your schedule. If you work and the visiting hours are during the middle of the day, then this may be an issue. On the other hand, if the hours are too long then people coming and going at all hours could be a nuisance.
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