HealthBridge's In-Home Care Blog

From time to time, we invite experts from our industry to write guest posts on the Senior Care Blog. This week, we've invited Paul Markowitz, the CEO of Senior Living Specialists to discuss what to look for in senior housing.

Sometimes living in your own home is no longer an option and you have to find other choices. Long term senior living options consist of: Continuing Care Retirement Communities, Independent Living, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing or Group Homes.

I went through the experience of finding the best long term living option for my 59 year old mom who was diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer's. I didn't have anybody to relate to as I was only 26 years old and felt he was being taken advantage of when looking at the different facilities. I didn't want to see other families be taken advantage of.

The subject of long term senior living is one that is very overwhelming and stressful. More long term senior living options continue to be built which presents more options for families to choose from. Each long term senior living option is different. The average person looking at long term senior living options tends to be inexperienced in the area, stress level is increased from the norm, has a job and a family to care for.

That's why I started Senior Living Specialists. We help families navigate through the process of finding the best long term senior living option.

I've boiled down what I learned into three pointers that you should look for when looking at long term senior living options.

1. Determine the Appropriate Type of Living - You should understand what each type of senior living includes and the type of assistance that can be provided to ensure that the individual will be successful.
2. Staff to Resident Ratio - This is vital to ensure that the individual will be able to receive the best care and that caregivers will be available.
3. Staff Turnover Rate - It's important that the caregivers aren't constantly changing every couple of months. It's much easier for individuals to be familiar with the same caregivers as they can build a relationship and good level of trust with.
   

If you investigate these three factors, you'll be sure to find senior housing success for you and your loved one.

If you'd like a little assistance as you search out senior housing, ask Paul. His company, Senior Living Specialists, provides a free service to families that helps families to narrow down the choices of communities to look at, coaches families on what to look for, provides families with a list of questions when touring and helps families to ensure that they get the best monthly rate possible. Check them out at www.seniorlivingspecialists.com.

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