What is the most important part of a nursing home?

When you’re looking for a nursing home or assisted living center for your loved ones, the staff at the center is going to try to impress you. This often means having a large, beautiful lobby and impressive public areas, along with very nice rooms that you can walk through and lots of other touches that make the home feel cozy and inviting.

It’s fine to look at some of these things, but experts warn that you don’t want to be too drawn in by these elements. Instead, look at the most important part, which is the staff itself.

The staff dictates the level of care that your loved one is going to get. You want to make sure that everyone is properly trained and certified. It’s also good to talk to staff members just to get a sense of how kind and caring they really are. If you get a bad vibe, there’s probably a reason for it, so pay attention to your gut.

It’s also important to look at the size of the facility, the number of residents, and the size of the staff.

If the place feels like it’s understaffed, that means your loved ones will not always get the level of care that you want for them. There will be longer delays, there may not be staff members around in an emergency, and the whole atmosphere can be challenging. Even when the staff means well and is doing the best that they can, simply not having enough people around can lead to neglect, which may be the fault of ownership.

Those whose loved ones have been neglected in Indiana need to know what legal steps to take.

Source: Chicago Tribune, “Forget the lobby–staff is everything at long-term-care buildings,” Jane Adler, accessed April 12, 2016

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