Selecting An Adult Care Home
How to Select an Adult Care Home for Your Spouse or Parent in Washington State
Finding a list of licensed adult family homes is easy in Washington State. https://fortress.wa.gov/dshs/adsaapps/lookup/AFHAdvLookup.aspx
Homes can be searched by county, city or zip code. The difficulty is that there are 2,800 of them in our state – which one(s) do you call?
A senior housing and care referral agency will simplify the process. Rather than having to place 25 to 50 phone calls and repeat your same story over and over, you can contact a referral agent who asks you a specific series of questions to determine what type of home you are seeking. They then contact the possible matches on your behalf and providing you access to two to four possible homes that you will wish to consider.
Almost all referral agencies are free-of-charge to the consumer. They receive a finder’s fee from the home the elder or family select.
It’s common for people to slip into the pattern of thinking that selecting an adult family home for a loved one is like apartment hunting. Although the layout of the house and rooms are important, there are other factors that are equally as important.
Here is a list of concepts to consider when selecting an adult care home:
Does the owner live on site or elsewhere?
- How often is the owner on site?
- How long has the adult care home been in operation?
- What is the staffing based upon?
- How many caregivers are on staff from 8am-5pm, 5pm-12am and 12am-8am?
- Does the home offer awake staff? (Staff that is awake during the night to provide care if needed)
- How often is waking a caregiver up at night acceptable to the home if night-time toileting assist is needed?
- What is the access to a bathroom
- Is the home ADA accessible and barrier free
- Is there a visiting doctor or ARNP?
- Does the home have nurse delegation?
- What access is there to opening windows or access to the outdoors?
- Are there children in the home?
- Are there pets in the home?
- What is the pricing range?
- What is the maximum price charged?
- What are reasons why a resident would not be allowed to stay in the home?
When making the decision of which adult family home to choose, another issue of great importance is your comfort level of communicating with the provider and the caregivers. If the owner is not in the home on a daily basis, ask to speak to the caregivers. Being able to communicate openly and honestly with the provider and caregiver is a critical aspect of selecting a home.
Some people have the false sense that moving a loved one into an adult family home means that the provider will take care of every aspect of the older adult’s care. This is not the case. A family member or legally responsible party must continue to oversee the older adult’s medical care needs and serve as an advocate for the senior.
CONTACT CHOICE
CHOICE has offices in Seattle, Portland, and Spokane. Contact us seven (7) days a week by phone or email between 8:30am and 8:30pm.
PHONE NUMBER:
(800) 361-0138
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