8 Qualities To Look For In A Nursing Home

If you have an elderly loved one who requires extra help and care every day, then it may be a good idea to begin looking at potential nursing homes to enroll them in. These facilities do wonders for keeping elderly patients safe, happy, and ready to live out their golden years in peace. When looking around for the right home, however, you must look for certain signs and qualities that will ensure you’re making the right decision. Here are the eight most important qualities you should look for during your search: 

1. Transparency

When you’re looking for a quality nursing home, you’ll want to prioritize ones that have a fully transparent way of operating, and communicating with patients’ families. Otherwise, you’ll be putting your loved one in a home that will have a much greater chance of participating in abusive behavior. If you or an elderly loved one has been abused at a nursing home, you must look into hiring a nursing home abuse lawyer that will help you hold abusive homes and staff members responsible for their actions. 

2. Community

When your loved one first enters a nursing home, it’s normal for them to feel somewhat alienated. This is a brand-new living environment, after all. For this reason, quality nursing homes emphasize building a sense of community between their staff and residents. This factor will help your loved one make new friends, and adjust to their new lifestyle with a much more effective approach. For this reason, this is perhaps the most important quality for first-time nursing home residents. 

3. Activities

Speaking of community and being involved, many quality nursing homes across the country emphasize creating fun activities and social structures for their residents to enjoy. If your elderly loved one has a hobby or loves to play games, then you should seek out a nursing home that can help facilitate their interests. Doing so will not only help them transition into their new home more effectively, but it will ensure they have something to look forward to every week as well (which is great for their mental health). 

4. 24/7 Care

Many nursing home patients require around-the-clock care to stay healthy, happy, and secure. For this reason, you should only seek out nursing homes that provide quality, 24-7 nursing care access. This will ensure your elderly loved one can receive their medications in a timely fashion, and that all of their other unique health needs are being addressed. Additionally, nursing homes that prioritize around-the-clock care are much less likely to participate in abusive practices behind the scenes. 

5. Cleanliness

Do you enjoy living among clutter and disarray? Of course not; so why should you let your elderly loved one suffer such a fate? Make sure to prioritize visiting any nursing home you’re considering for your loved one before pulling the trigger. This can help you ensure that the home is clean and has a welcoming environment. Nothing can turn an otherwise-strong nursing home into a disaster quite like a cleanliness problem, after all. Additionally, unclean homes are breeding grounds for dangerous bacteria and germs that could put your elderly loved one’s health at risk. 

6. Organization

To keep nursing home residents safe, staff members have to ensure that all living environments are hazard free and that there’s a clear sense of organization behind the daily going-ons of a home. If you visit a home, and it seems to be in disarray from an organizational standpoint, it’s time to keep on with your search. Your loved one deserves the best, and more organized nursing homes are statistically much safer. 

7. Excellent Online Reviews

As we mentioned earlier, transparency is key when it comes to finding a quality nursing home. If a nursing home is great at what it does, then people are sure to notice (and vice-versa). For this reason, you should be looking for positive and plentiful online reviews to back up a nursing home’s reputation. You can also use the internet to discover any potential scandals that have rocked a nursing home in the past. The more effort you put into this aspect of your search, the better. 

8. Varied Nutrition

Elderly patients require varied, balanced nutrition plans to stay happy, healthy, and secure. If you want a high-quality nursing home experience for your loved one, you should seek out a home that can easily provide detailed nutritional plans for patients. If they can accommodate your loved one’s taste preferences, then they will become an even more attractive option. Quality food is an absolute must for any nursing home, after all.