How To Choose A Nursing Home For A Loved One After A Stroke

Deciding on a nursing home for a stroke victim is one of the most difficult decisions you will have to make. Besides the emotional toll the decision takes on you, you want to pick out a place that is appropriate for your loved one. It may be necessary that your loved one needs to reside in a nursing home, but you can do everything within your power to ensure you find the best one in your area.
Not all nursing homes are created equal, but they are not the den of horrors that popular culture will have you believe. Many are staffed by dedicated, loving professionals who would go out of their way to make a resident comfortable. Some places are understaffed and ill-kept, but they are the exception, not the rule. To choose a nursing home, you need to consider your loved one’s needs, their personality, and the reputation of the facility in general.

Types of Nursing Homes

Nursing home types are separated into a few categories. The first type of nursing home is a respite care home or a temporary care facility. These are generally skilled nursing facilities that provide temporary care of stroke victims. For instance, if you are the primary care giver for your loved one and need time away to attend a wedding, you can take your loved one to this type of facility for a few days. Even if you need rest from the stress of care, these facilities can step in and provide care. An offshoot of this type of nursing home is adult daycare. This is a facility that will care for your loved one during the day while you work, and the stroke victim will come home with you at night.

The second type of nursing home is called assisted living. This is for stroke victims who are mostly functional but are unable to live alone. For instance, if they can ambulate, feed themselves, and dress themselves, an assisted living facility may be a good fit for them. Some stroke victims are at risk for falls or cannot manage their medications properly, and assisted living provides a safe, non-skilled environment for them.

Skilled nursing care is what most people think about when they think about nursing homes. In this type of facility, your loved one will be provided total care, as needed, on a 24 hour basis. For instance, they will be able to feed, clothe, bathe, and ambulate your loved one. Many of the residents of skilled nursing facilities are unable to care for themselves and need focused, constant care. Skilled nursing facilities are usually affiliated with a doctor and have physical and speech therapy units on site.

Items to Consider

The most important item to consider when looking into facilities is the medical and emotional needs of the patient. You may want to consider assisted living, but you must be absolutely sure that your loved one would be safe in this environment. They need to be evaluated for their ability to maintain the activities of daily living and how well they operate independently.
You should also ensure that they have a physician present or on call at all times. If your loved one gets sick, the nurses need to have a doctor to turn to for orders. In the same vein, they should have a working relationship with a nearby hospital to handle emergencies and illnesses that cannot be adequately dealt with in the facility. Examples of this would be pneumonia, infection, and heart attacks.

A registered nurse should be present in the facility at all times, on all shifts. Although licensed medical professionals may perform the bulk of the duties, a registered nurse will supervise the care of all the residents. All workers in the facility should be CPR certified, and physical, occupational, and speech therapy should be present in the facility. Ideally, your loved one could visit the therapists every day to improve or maintain abilities.

Making a Decision

Of course, those are just the bare minimums that are necessary in a nursing facility. You should consider other points as well. First, look at the cleanliness of the building. Do you notice a smell when you enter? Are the floors swept? Is the dining room neat and orderly? Any of these can tip you off to a nursing home that is not quite up to par.
Second, look at the residents themselves. Are they happy? Are they screaming? How are they interacting with staff and visitors? Do they seem to be well taken care of, such as bathed and dressed in clean clothing? Often the residents will give you a vital clue as to how they are treated at that facility. If possible, see if you can interview one of the higher functioning residents to get their opinion.

Finally, examine the staff. Most staff knows to be on their best behavior for potential admissions, but you can pop in for a surprise visit to see how they really operate. Although it is important to discern if they are friendly, you should be looking for tell-tale signs of stress. Do they seem calm and relaxed? Do they seem to like what they are doing? How do they interact with the residents? Knowing how the staff treats their charges will help you feel more secure in admitting your loved one there.
In the end, the decision to use a nursing home isn’t an easy one, and some of these questions may not be easy to answer. It is important to trust your gut instincts. If the place just doesn’t feel right to you, it probably isn’t. However, you may find that it isn’t as bad as you thought, and it could be a pleasant experience for the stroke victim.

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