Common Mistakes People Make When Looking For A Healthcare Facility

Balancing a personal and professional life can be exhausting. It becomes even more stressful when you have to look after an aging family member. However, enlisting the services of an assisted living or healthcare facility reduces your workload and serves as a practical option for long-term care.

The professionals in these living homes ensure senior residents feel at home and perform daily activities while maintaining their independence. Unfortunately, not all homes function professionally, and in your attempts to find a living community, you could end up making the wrong choice. This choice can put unnecessary pressure and be detrimental to a person’s health.

To help you select a home that provides the required level of care and meets the daily needs of your loved one, Buckingham South has compiled a list of the most common mistakes people make when searching for an assisted living facility, and how to avoid them.

1. Not having sufficient knowledge of the healthcare services provided. When looking for an assisted living or healthcare facility, people often make the mistake of not understanding the differences between the different types of healthcare facilities and what they can and cannot provide. Not all assisted living facilities have the same licensure. Some, such as Buckingham South, can provide care until the end of life. Many assisted livings will discharge residents that can no longer ambulate, to a nursing home. Buckingham South has the highest medical licensure and can, therefore, accommodate and care for the medical needs of senior citizens as they are needed.

2. Not knowing the quality of care provided. People often judge a facility by its external facade, when instead, it’s important to find out what kind of care the facility provides. The medical attention that is being offered is critical. The staffing ratio is of utmost importance. The reputation of the facility both within the general community as well as the medical community. Investigating health inspections can tell a lot about the quality of care that the facility provides.

3. Failing to have a long-term plan. A very common mistake is not looking ‘down the road’ in anticipation of a medical decline that could happen to their loved one. Will the facility be able to care for them as their medical condition declines or will they have to transfer out to a different facility? A change in the environment that they’ve become accustomed to can be devastating and very disorienting to an elderly person. Continuity of care is of utmost importance.

4. Failing to research the management. People often make the mistake of not finding out who owns the facility that their loved one is about to go into. Who will be overseeing the care that will be provided on a daily basis? Have there been many changes in management? Is there a lot of turnover of staff? Again, continuity of care is of vital importance to ensure the quality of care. When a facility is locally owned and operated, it makes a world of difference in the quality as well as continuity of care. Often, when a facility is part of a large corporate chain, there are major changes that occur every few years, both in management and ownership. To whom will you go with concerns about your loved one’s care?

As a licensed, full-service assisted living facility in Savannah, GA, the caregivers at Buckingham South have more than forty-five years of experience in the healthcare field. Our mission is to provide you or your loved one with an elegant and affordable home and enable you to live life to the fullest. To learn more about the services that we provide, please click here. If you have any questions about home health care, get in touch with us by clicking here.