CareFinder™

The Alzheimer's Association and the Eldercare Locator can help you find home and residential care providers in your area. Screening care providers once you have gotten a referral is the next important step. The following information will help you find the right care provider for your needs.

Home is where the heart is, and home care providers can help a person stay home longer. These helpers offer a variety of services, including:

Specific services and training vary among workers and agencies. So does cost. Typically, Medicare doesn't pay for home care.

Call first: When you call to screen home care providers, find out what kind of help they offer.

Interview at home: Meet with a prospective home care provider in your home. Prepare some questions beforehand. It's a good idea to have a third person present so that afterwards you can discuss your impressions.

Evaluate the service: Every so often, you'll probably reconsider whether your home care is working out. For example, your needs may change. Or, the provider or employing agency may decide they can no longer work for you.

Share information: The more care providers know about the person they are caring for, the more successful they can be. You can help your care provider by sharing some Personal Facts and Insights. The Personal Facts and Insights form identifies a person's family, friends, hobbies, daily routine, personal preferences and background

If you are selecting an adult day center, arrange a meeting with the staff and take time to look around. Does the center look clean? Are individuals involved in activities? What is your overall feeling about the environment?

Get a feeling for the center by attending a function there or talking with staff. Ask if they provide personalized care, and find out about both the people who work there and those who attend the center. Be direct about the needs and characteristics of the person with dementia, and find a center that is able to meet your needs.

If possible, begin making plans for the move into residential care before the person needs to move. That gives you time to learn your options and decide which facility best meets your needs.

The long-term facility where an individual lives becomes home for that person. Living in the right home feels good and helps someone enjoy life.

Evaluating nursing homes
How can you tell if a nursing home will make a good home for a person with dementia? To get a feeling for the atmosphere, you'll have to visit. But beforehand, do some research.

The federal government provides information about nursing homes in an online tool called Nursing Home Compare. This site lets you search for any nursing home in the country that is Medicare- or Medicaid-certified.

How Nursing Home Compare works
With Nursing Home Compare you can search for nursing homes by state, county, city or zip code. You'll probably begin by narrowing your search to a specific area. Then you can select facilities and view information such as inspection results, staffing levels, quality-of-care measures and ownership.

Click on the tabs of the Web site pictured below to learn more about the features of Nursing Home Compare. After clicking, scroll down to see the information.

Overview provides a brief summary of basic characteristics of each facility. Greater detail of each category in the overview is discussed in separate sections.

About Homes gives an overview about basic characteristics of each facility. Information includes Medicare/Medicaid participation, total number of certified beds, type of ownership, whether the facility is located in a hospital or is a multi-home (chain) ownership, and if it currently has resident and family councils.

Quality provides the user with one way to measure care in a nursing home. These measures provide data that nursing homes regularly gather on all residents at specific periods during their stay (referred to as the Minimum Data Set). The information collected relates to the residents' physical and clinical conditions and abilities, as well as preferences and life care wishes.

Inspections offers information from annual state inspections or "survey" reports, which list any deficiencies found in a facility by inspectors upon completion of their annual survey. Deficiencies are a finding that a nursing home failed to meet one or more federal or state requirements. Each facility is required by law to make the latest state inspection report available to residents or anyone who inquires.

Staffing offers information about "levels of staffing" or "nursing staff hours per resident per day" at each facility. This information is crucial in understanding how much assistance is provided.

Special attention should be paid to who is providing care — certified nurse's aides (CNAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs) or registered nurses (RNs).

Resources offers consumers information about awareness campaigns, nursing home publications, Web sites, a glossary and resident rights.

Evaluating assisted living facilities
Assisted living is an alternative to nursing home care. There are currently 20,000 assisted living facilities in the United States. As many as two-thirds of assisted living residents have dementia.

Assisted living settings can be high-rise apartment buildings or single-family homes. You can sometimes find them on the same grounds as independent-living facilities or nursing homes.

The federal government doesn't regulate non-nursing home residential care facilities. States have a variety of licensing categories for non-nursing home residential care facilities. But not all states recognize assisted living as a distinct category.

Information on your state's nursing homes and assisted living facilities
Each state has a Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. This program provides services for nursing home residents, residents-to-be and their families. Ombudsmen know about residential care options. They can help you and your family choose the best placement.

The state's long-term care ombudsman or Health Department can also help you find your state's regulations for long-term care facilities. All nursing homes and many assisted living facilities must be inspected regularly. You should be able to see the results of these latest inspections.

State licensing of assisted living facilities varies with each state. Ask the ombudsman or the Health Department what your state's requirements are for residential care facilities.

When you read inspection results, you may see unfamiliar terms and conditions. Some of these terms are defined in the Glossary. The long-term care ombudsman can also explain what the results mean to you.