You've heard it said before, "If you want to have a quality nursing home experience plan in advance." Visit nursing homes in advance. Doesn't that sound like a great way to spend the day? Most people simply cannot rap their minds around the idea that they will need to be in a nursing home. The reality is that at age 65 your chance of needing long-term care is 45%. Look at yourself and look at your spouse; if it's not him/her it's you. Here are some tried and true methods to manage nursing home care without "losing it."
1. Realize, with age comes challenges. At the time of retirement, age 65, the chances of needing long-term care (nursing home/home health care) is about 1 in 2 and increases with age. The many age related medical conditions including joint instability, strength limitations, and systemic slow down often require some length of involvement with long-term care. It's probably going to happen to you, your spouse, or your parents. Now, what are you going to do about it?
2. Understand nursing home care can be long-term or temporary. When the words "nursing home" are spoken people often cringe with visions of the "Psycho" house or the "Hotel California" looming in their mind's eye. Breathe. You can leave...maybe. If you need therapy for a hip or knee replacement your nursing home experience may be short-term. Even more important than the reason you are there is if you have the resources and structures in place to get you out. If you don't have the financial and social support resources to remain at home after a disability, it may be a long-term stay.
3. Don't settle for less. The idea of being in a nursing home is difficult to stomach. The idea of having to fight with a bad nursing home is downright scary. Many people are not satisfied with their nursing home experiences and don't plan to return to the same facility. The key to avoiding this less than ideal scenario is to visit facilities in advance, be critical about the quality of your future home/rehabilitation center, and don't settle for less. If it doesn't feel right, look right, or smell right - move on. The future of your care will be affected by how critical and thorough you are in evaluating nursing homes.
4. Develop a tag team. The most powerful of human forces is a group of like-minded individuals bound together for a common cause. To ensure you and your loved ones get the care needed, make sure you have a tag team approach. The team should include other family members who visit often at varying times and a professional nursing home advocate who is at your disposal to help manage challenges with nursing quality of care and questions about therapy treatment programs.
5. Know what "Good" looks like. Most families have no idea what a good nursing home looks like, except maybe the opposite of the mental image in bullet number two above. If you are going to manage nursing home care well you want to find yourself in a good facility to start. No matter how good a nursing home is, there is always something to negotiate. Even if the food is decent, the staffing and response to call lights may be lacking, for example. Start higher on the rung of quality and you will have less territory to negotiate.
The long-term care systems, nursing homes in particular, are not transparent enough to make working with them easy for patients and their families. With due diligence and a backup plan you can manage nursing home care and keep your sanity.
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