How to Choose an Assisted Living Facility: Helpful Checklist and Tips

Choosing an assisted living community is challenging

Moving your older adult to assisted living is a big challenge for many families.

Deciding when to make the transition can be tough, but once that’s resolved, the next question is how to find an assisted living community that’s right for your older adult.

You want to make sure they’ll be well cared for and are also looking for a good fit for their lifestyle and personality.

The distance to you or other relatives might be an important consideration as well.

Generally, that means looking at your older adult’s budget, visiting a few places, and comparing the pros and cons to make a final decision.

To make the process easier, we found a useful free guide that summarizes key information and has a handy checklist.

This guide and checklist help you organize your thoughts, notice important details, and compare one community against another.

We share an overview of the guide to choosing an assisted living facility and highlight the most helpful checklist items.

 

 

This checklist helps you choose a good assisted living community

Looking at assisted living communities is an overwhelming process; there’s a lot that can be accidentally overlooked.

Argentum (formerly ALFA), a non-profit group for senior living communities, has a free guide and checklist that answers top questions about how to choose an assisted living facility.

The checklist helps you evaluate each community and puts the most important questions at your fingertips. 

We recommend browsing the entire guide, but you could also go straight to the checklist in the last section.

What’s in the guide:

• Pages 1 to 3 – introduction
• Page 4 – what are assisted living communities, benefits, pricing
• Page 5 – amenities, services, types of care available, payment options
• Page 6 – who oversees quality, state regulation inspection reports, how to find a community
• Pages 7 to 11 – community review checklist

 

How to use the assisted living review checklist

The checklist goes beyond the usual questions about assisted living services.

It helps you notice the “little things” that can be easy to miss as a casual visitor.

These are the important details that give you an idea of what life is truly like there and how good the care really is.

Checklist questions we thought were most useful:

• Are you able to talk with residents about how they like the community and staff?
• Are visits with the resident welcome at any time?
• Is staff available to provide 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) if needed?
• Does the community conduct criminal background checks on employees?
• Does the community train staff on elder abuse and neglect? Is there a policy for reporting suspected abuse?
• What are the most common reasons why a resident may be asked to move out of the community?

 

Next Step  Print or save the ALFA Guide to Choosing an Assisted Living Facility (PDF)

 

Recommended for you:

• 7 Senior Housing Options: Which One Works Best?
• When to Move to Assisted Living? Advice From a Social Worker
• 3 Tips to Choose Between Assisted Living vs In-Home Care

 

By DailyCaring Editorial Team

 

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