Working in aged care – and also going through the experience of needing to place my own mother in a home – I can personally say putting a loved one into care is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do.
That’s why I was pleased to see this fantastic checklist from a registered nurse with 23 years’ experience in aged care that ran in the Gold Coast Sun last week. So what did she have to say?
Help for a hard decision
Here’s her advice for families deciding on an aged care home:
- ‘Visit aged care centres at different times of the day as there are different staff and different staff ratios on morning and afternoon shifts.
- Assess if there appears to be enough staff to care for residents. “If staff look rushed, tired or stressed, it’s likely the facility is understaffed,” she warned.
- Visit a facility at the weekends when office staff and management are usually not present. “Make small-talk with the staff. Ask if they enjoy their jobs and whether the workload is fair and manageable,” the nurse said.
- Be present when meals are served. Take note of the quality, quantity and variety of food.
- Assess if there is enough staff to help residents at meal times or to feed them, if residents are seated comfortably and if there is water on the tables.
- Ask residents if they like the food and see if kitchen staff are obliging if a menu item is not to the liking of a resident.
- Check if the aged care facility appears clean, does not smell of urine or faeces and if soiled-linen trolleys are visible or overflowing.
- Check for spills on the floor as having a fall is the most important concern of the elderly.
- Check if male residents are clean shaven, ladies are well-groomed with clean clothes, fingernails are clean and if residents have food on their faces after meals.
- Check if bedrooms are well-maintained with clean linen and if personal items such as photographs are allowed?
- Does each person have a water jug and glass — essential in a hot climate — and are bathrooms clean and tidy with fresh towels?
- Are there enough blankets? Elderly residents feel the cold due to decreased circulation.
- Are there daily, organised activities and are residents taken outdoors and/or to the shops?
- Do residents’ GPs visit regularly?’
The nurse also urges people not to be impressed by ‘beautiful décor’ or ‘lovely gardens’. “If residents do not appear happy; as pain-free as possible or enjoy interacting with other residents, then shop around,” she says.
“The bottom line in any nursing home is how well your loved ones are treated and whether they are given love and respect and treated as individuals”, so that they can live as comfortable a life as they can in their senior years.
Isn’t that what everyone wants for their parents?
For more information on choosing aged care, go to agedcare101.com.au.
