Choosing an Assisted Living Facility - The Feel Is Very Important

I'm here with Margie Veis, the Executive Director of Summerhill Villa, an assisted living facility in Santa Clarita, California.

KH: How long have you been doing this?

MV: I have been an executive director for ten years, all of them at Summerhill Villa.

KH:: What should people look for when they choose a facility? Cleanliness of course...

MV: Right. Obviously you need to walk into the building and go with your gut. You want to look at the residents. You want to look at the staff. You want to see what the physical feel is like. If you walk in and it smells like urine, you're going to walk out. If you walk in and people looked unkempt, you're going to walk out.

What's the longevity of the staff? Does the staff interact with the residents? What does the dining room feel like? Do the residents look happy? Do they look clean? Do you feel like you're getting a hard sell, like you're buying a car? Like you've got to decide right now?

Those are red lights to me. This is a life changing event, so you need to feel that you trust the person that you're talking with and that it feels right. I think the biggest thing is what is your gut telling you? I think another important thing is "How long have you been here? Why do you work here? What's your staff like? What's your background?"

I think those are important things. Again, you can see the building. You can see the staff. Many people get caught up in the numbers: "What's your staffing ratio? What time are your meal times? Do you have special diets?"

Really, you want to know who you are leaving your parent with. What kind of person is responsible for that building and the executive director is only as good as her managers and her care givers. How long have your managers been here? How long have your care givers been here? What's their background? What's their training?"

That's what you want to see. You don't want a revolving door where there's high staff turnover and no stability. You want to know that the people taking care of your loved one know what they're doing and are committed to what they're doing.