When an elderly loved one needs nursing home care, it’s important to find a facility that offers the support that they need. Nursing home facilities should provide appropriate health care to all of their residents, including those with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other health issues.
Unfortunately, there are some facilities and staff members there who do not uphold the best standard of care. If you see the following nursing home red flags, then you may want to look into choosing a different long-term care solution.
3 nursing home red flags to take note of
There are dozens of issues that might signal to you that a nursing home isn’t right for your loved one’s long-term care needs.
- The nursing home has high turnover rates
Whether in nursing home management or the nursing staff itself, if you see that the nursing home has a high turnover rate, it may be better to look for a different one. Problems with staffing turnover rates could be linked to low pay, conflicts between staff members or a heavy workload. These issues could be linked to poorer care, so it’s best to move on.
- You don’t see any activities happening
When you visit the nursing home, take note of what kinds of activities are going on. There should be some throughout the day. If activities aren’t available daily or there isn’t an activity planned on the upcoming schedule, then that could be a sign that there is a problem with staffing.
- It smells bad inside the nursing home
If there aren’t enough staff members or those staff members are negligent, you may notice that the nursing home smells of urine, vomit or other scents that you shouldn’t be smelling. While a particularly bad day in a nursing home may cause the facility to smell, that smell shouldn’t stick around if accidents or incidents are cleaned up appropriately.
These are three red flags to watch out for when choosing from a few nursing homes. They could be a sign that the standard of care in that facility is not as high as it should be.
