If your loved one can no longer live on his or her own, you’ve got some decisions to make. How can you trust that your relative – mother, father, husband, daughter — will be safely cared for? You’ve got some tough choices, and often they are limited by geography and cost. No doubt reading the other pages on this website gave you cause for concern or more worries than you had when you entered the site.

You are not alone. Lots of sites offer solid advice. Two articles which are very helpful are here:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-nursing-homes/articles/2013/02/26/how-to-choose-a-nursing-home

https://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/02174.pdf

Also, a great list of questions and discussion appears here as published by the American

Association of Retired Persons, and is paraphrased below:

http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/housing/info-03-2012/safe-nursing-home-questions-to-ask.html

1. How does the food look and taste?
2. What sounds do you hear?
3. What does it smell like?
4. Is the staff overworked?
5. How do residents spend their afternoons?
6. How does the staff interact with each other?
7. Do you see bruising?
8. How does the home handle a fall?
9. Are there unexplained bedsores?
10. Are personal care needs being met?

Another great resource — the good folks at the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, a watchdog organization with statistics on nursing homes throughout the state:

http://www.canhr.org/factsheets/nh_fs/html/fs_howtochoose.htm

Finally, we wanted to note, unique transformations are taking place in the world of elder care.   While large chains are frequently the subject of articles unmasking neglect and the overarching problem of profits over people, good things are also happening, novel approaches are creating improvement and people like Dr. Bill Thomas and filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett are working to better the lives of our elders.

http://www.nextavenue.org/he-broke-the-law-to-build-a-better-nursing-home/

http://www.aliveinside.us/#land

We believe the checks and balances provided by our work, the exposure of wrongs, the correction of serious problems, and the ultimate accountability of those with the responsibility for caring for elderly and dependent people, is making a difference. We will keep fighting, one case at a time, for the health and safety of all of our loved ones.

Contact Mulligan Law: 619.238.8700