Checklist for Choosing a Retirement Home (Part 1)

Description

As an older adult, you are more and more often confronted with difficulties in carrying out your daily activities. As a result, you ask yourself the critical question of choosing a retirement home. You must select the retirement home that will best meet your needs and expectations from the start.

This checklist contains all the points that must be verified because your future quality of life depends on it. Here we go…

Notice

The checklist before choosing a retirement home must include:

– checking that the services offered by the retirement home are appropriate for your needs and your degree of autonomy;

– checking the approval of the common areas and the rooms;

– control of the medical care you will receive;

– the search for information on the activities and entertainment offered;

– checking the hotel services.

Check that the services and assistance offered by the retirement home are appropriate for your needs:

1. The facility’s rooms are adapted to different disabilities:

◦ wheelchair travel: [yes/no];

◦ moving with a walker: [yes/no];

◦ deafness: [yes/no];

◦ blindness: [yes/no];

◦ memory impairment: [yes/no].

2. The bathrooms in the rooms are adapted to the various disabilities:

◦ Shower Grab Bar: [yes/no];

◦ wheelchair travel: [yes/no];

◦ moving with a walker: [yes/ no];

◦ deafness: [yes/no];

◦ blindness: [yes/no];

◦ memory impairment: [yes/no].

3. The common areas of the facility (hallways, elevators, common rooms, garden) are adapted to different disabilities:

◦ wheelchair travel: [yes/no];

◦ movement with a walker: [yes/no];

◦ deafness: [yes/no];

◦ blindness: [yes/no];

◦ memory impairment: [yes/no].

4. Control of room amenities common areas:

– Average room area: [x] m².

– The view from the room is of: [a busy street/ a garden/ a courtyard].

– The room is bright: [yes/no].

– Larger apartments are available: [yes/no].

– Rooms have a medical bed: [yes/no].

– It is possible to bring your furniture: [yes/no].

– You can welcome a couple: [yes/no].

– The common areas are tastefully decorated: [yes/no].

5. Control of the proposed medical follow-up:

– Number of full-time nurses working in the facility: [x]: [x].

– Number of full-time health care aides working in the facility: [x]: [x].

– Number of people housed in the facility: [x].

– Ratio of caregivers to residents in the facility: [x].

– The facility provides physical, psychomotor, or occupational therapists care: [yes/no].

– Number of full-time physicians working in the facility: [x].

– If the facility does not employ a full-time physician, the coordinating physician’s number of hours is present: [x].

– If your health condition worsens, you may be kept in the facility: [yes/no].

– If you have Alzheimer’s disease, the facility has experienced staff to treat you: [yes/no]: [yes/no]. 

6. Information about the activities and entertainment offered:

– Hours when your loved ones can visit you: [x].

– Possibility of practicing your religious activity within the establishment: [yes/no].

– Possibility to benefit from the services of a hairdresser: [yes/no].

– Possibly benefiting from the care of a pedicure: [yes/no].

– Animations proposed: [indicate].

– Volunteers work in the retirement home: [yes/no].

7. Hotel services:

– The establishment offers laundry services: [yes/no].

– The establishment allows you to choose your meal menus: [yes/no].

– Your relatives can come and have lunch with you: [yes/no]: [yes/no].

– Meals are served in: 

◦ the rooms with the possibility of portage: [yes/ no];

◦ a common dining room: [yes/ no].

8. The environment of the facility:

– The facility is well served by public transportation: [yes/ no].

– It is close to shops: [yes/no].

– Your relatives will be able to get there easily: [yes/no].

9. The rates charged:

– Monthly lodging rate: $[x].

– Surcharges may be charged: [yes/no].

– If yes:

◦ reasons why these markups are likely to be charged: [indicate].

◦ a total foreseeable monthly amount of these markups: $[x].

– If your resources are low, the facility is eligible to receive social assistance: [yes/no].

– Monthly amount of assistance you may receive $[x].

Follow this comprehensive checklist in Part 2 here!