How Do I Select an Assisted Living Facility for My Parent?

A publication by the State of Wisconsin, Department of Health Services, Division of Quality Assurance, Bureau of Assisted Living, details some basic guidelines for choosing an assisted living facility for your parent. The Division of Qualify Assurance is in charge of licensing, certifying, or registering all assisted living facilities in the state of Wisconsin. With so many facilities to choose from in both the private and public sectors, guidance is helpful in making your ultimate decision.

First, you must determine the appropriate level of care for your loved one. Depending on your parent’s needs, different types of assisted living facilities may be appropriate. These different types of facilities provide differing levels of care. For example, community based residential facilities (CBRF) contain five or more unrelated adults residing together who do not require more than an intermediate level of nursing care and who receive more care than regular room and board, but not more than three hours of nursing care per week. In contrast, residents of adult family homes (AFH) contain three or four unrelated adults receiving more care than regular room or board, but not more than seven hours per week of nursing care. Likewise, a residential care apartment complex (RCAC) contains five or more adults who resident in independent apartments and receive not more than 28 hours per week in supportive, personal, and nursing care services.

Your choice of assisted living facilities also may depend on the location of a facility to the residences of children, relatives, and other caregivers, as well as the source of funding available to pay for the individual’s care. Aside from personal resources, there are a variety of state and federal funding programs for home and community-based long-term care for which your parent may be eligible.

Furthermore, you should personally visit each facility in order to observe its physical structure, meet with staff, and ask questions about potential services. The State of Wisconsin publication referenced above contains a detailed checklist with different items that you should consider as you evaluate different assisted living facilities.

At Boller & Vaughan, our nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers want to help protect those who can protect themselves the least. This is why we focus our efforts on protecting those who have fallen victim to abuse and neglect in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities. We are skilled at investigating your case and assessing your situation in order to decide whether you have any potential legal claims against the facility that took the neglectful and abusive actions against your loved one. Don’t hesitate to contact Boller & Vaughan right away and find out how our legal skills can help your family through this difficult situation.