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What facilities should I look at.

If I have to look for a facilities for my wife, where should I look? This is all new to me.

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Answers

  • blacksparky
    blacksparky Member Posts: 424
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    When I was ready to place DW I found and visited many places within my driving distance I thought I could handle. Started with the closest one and then the farther ones. Even though the one facility near my house, I finally decided on one of the places that was 20 miles away. It wasn’t as new looking as the one by my house but I got a really good feeling about the staff and the care I saw them giving while I was there visiting. My DW has now been there for almost 3 months and she has acclimated to her new home very well.

  • annie51
    annie51 Member Posts: 817
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    There are organizations that may help you narrow down your choices. Your local Area Agency on Aging and A Place For Mom are two of them. I looked at places that were strictly Memory Care and some that were both Assisted Living & Memory Care. I had a similar experience to @blacksparky where I looked within a certain radius and chose one that was not the newest but it had a cozy feeling to it, and a beautiful outside walking area (it was memory care only facility). Besides the obvious questions about staffing and their methods of care, think about what would make your wife happy - would she like to be able to go outside (a big plus for my DH)? Would she like a busy activity schedule? Would she like a big fancy room?

    There are many people on here who have posted also about care homes, which are smaller facilities with a better staff to resident ratio.
    I encourage you to start early to research and tour facilities, long before you need it, because it may need to be your Plan B in case something happens to you.

  • Carl46
    Carl46 Member Posts: 1,742
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    I told a hospice social worker where I had decided to place my wife and she said that was the place she would choose if she were placing a family member. She visits all the area facilities in her work and is familiar with all of them. If I had it to so over again, I think I would start by talking to her.

Commonly Used Abbreviations


DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
Read more