If you’ve decided to transition to a retirement home or elder care facility, you’ll now want to decide on what facility is good for you. To do this you want to develop a plan so that you can be prepared to get the best information possible. Here are a few tips.
Create a list and schedule appointments.
The first thing you want to do is visit each of the facilities that you’ve identified by scheduling an appointment. This will give you the chance to speak to staff and residents, and allow you to sample the cuisine as well. Once you’ve visited each of the places on the list you can then follow up by visiting unannounced. You should definitely do this for any place that you like, but you may also want to give the places you didn’t like a second look, just to be sure.
Talk to residents.
While elder care facility staff can be very helpful, you won’t be able to get a complete picture of the facility without speaking to the residents. Try to do this without staff members being present, as the residents may feel more comfortable about speaking openly if you are having private discussions.
Review the paperwork.
If you’ve identified one or more facilities as places you like, ask to review the resident contract and any other paperwork that you will need to sign in order to become a resident. You should take this paperwork to your estate planning attorney to review as well, and never sign anything without first getting legal advice.
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