It’s time to put your elderly loved one into a senior living community. This can be a hard time for many people, but it’s something that has to be done. It can be made a bit easier, however, when you know what information you should be looking for to make sure the place you choose is high quality and will care for your loved one as well as you would.
What Are the Standards for Cleanliness and Design?
The senior living community you are choosing should present as a comfortable, clean home—even though there are dozens of people living there. No matter the age or condition, people deserve to live somewhere that makes them feel good.
What is the general feeling when you step onto the grounds of the community? Is it clean, well taken care of, and thoughtfully designed? You don’t want a place that feels like a sterile hospital. It should be enriching and well thought out, as well as clean and well kept, with positive colors, comfortable furnishings, and space for each member’s room to be individualized.
How Are Patients Kept Safe?
Safety standards should never be compromised. There should be plenty of available grab bars, handrails, and flat-entry showers. All areas of the community should have accessible accommodations, such as elevators, extra-wide doors, stairlifts, and ramps.
Safety is also about the staff. Is each employee's background checked? What are the training and education requirements? Are visitors identified and monitored? Is there a system of checks and balances so that each community member is cared for and communicated with by more than one person?
You should be looking for compassionate, engaging interactions between staff and residents—both one-on-one and in groups.
How Are the Employees Treated?
Happy, appreciated employees are almost guaranteed to treat the community members better than if they are overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated. Get a feel for how the staff feels about their jobs and how they are treated by upper management. You want to choose a home that takes care of every person who enters the facility.
What Lifestyle Activities Are Offered?
Every person needs something different in their senior living facility, and one person’s match might not be the best for another. Ask your loved one what is the most important to them (or base your decision on what you know about them in their independent life). Do they enjoy outside activities such as bocce, shuffleboard, and long walks through gardens? Or do they love to play cards and games and have lively book club discussions? Would they like to keep their minds and hands sharp with art classes?
The Final Decision
No matter what type of facility you and your loved one are looking for, the most important element to consider is your gut feeling about the home. If you were your elderly relative, would you want to live here? Is this the place that will love and care for your special person just as you would? If so, you can feel good about settling them into their new home. It is important to find the right Fort Lauderdale senior living option for your loved one. Let LiveWell Placements handle it for you. LiveWell prioritizes finding the perfect Fort Lauderdale senior living facility for the senior in your life. You can learn more about how LiveWell can help by checking out our services page. Or learn more about who we are here - give us a call today to get started. Whether you are looking for assisted living in Fort Lauderdale, independent living in Fort Lauderdale, or senior living in Fort Lauderdale, LiveWell Placements will be there for you every step of the way.
Check out these other resources to learn more about what to look for when it comes to looking for a senior living community: Resource 1 | Resource 2 | Resource 3
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