4 Crucial Tips for Nursing Home Resident Advocates in 2023

Nursing homes help take care of millions of residents every year in the US. If you have a loved one in a nursing home, you must become their advocate. Doing so will help ensure that their stay is peaceful, secure, and enjoyable. After all, you want them to lead a fulfilling life at their nursing home, so every step you take to guarantee this outcome will mean the world to them. This can also help you assist them if they need legal or financial help. Here are four crucial tips that all nursing home resident advocates should know about in 2023:

While it鈥檚 not everyone鈥檚 experience, way too many people learn that their elderly loved one is being abused at their nursing home. For this reason, it鈥檚 key that, as their family member and/or advocate, you鈥檙e constantly on the lookout for potential signs of abuse. 

Whether it鈥檚 physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse, knowing what to look out for is key. As your loved one gets used to their new living situation, you should feel out about their emotional state for any signs of something being wrong. Hopefully, however, you鈥檒l never need to contact the nursing home abuse attorney that you鈥檝e filed away.聽

At the moment, more than one million Americans reside in nursing facilities. The number of persons entering nursing homes has stayed constant, although the old population in the United States has increased recently. 

Less old people are choosing to move into nursing homes as a result of advancements in at-home care as well as changes in attitudes around elderly care, including several high-profile incidents of nursing home abuse. This tendency does not, however, take away from some families’ genuine need to find a long-term residence for elderly loved ones. 

Finding the ideal property is actually made more difficult by this. Research is the first stage in the process if you haven’t found a place for your loved one yet.

Assuring a great experience for you, your loved one, and your family depends on knowing the nursing home staff members by name. They can serve as a point of contact in the event of issues and offer insight into the quality of care offered at the facility.聽

If you get along well with the staff, they will probably get along well with you as well and are more likely to tell you how your loved one is doing. Take advantage of the chance to tell the employees about your elderly loved one. 

You can discuss your loved one’s personality traits and how much you care about them in a resident assessment or care plan. If you鈥檙e developing a deep relationship with your loved one鈥檚 care staff, be sure to show them your appreciation with occasional gifts, kind words, or by bragging about them to the nursing home鈥檚 director. 

There are many important, and rewarding, reasons to visit your loved one regularly (and with purpose) while they鈥檙e living in a nursing home. Depending on how close you live to the nursing home, you may be able to visit more frequently or less frequently, but you should attempt to go as often as you can. 

Regular visits would not only make your loved one happy, but they will also enable you to monitor the staff and the company’s activities. Don’t always visit at the same time when scheduling visits; you want to capture staff members when they are in their most natural states, not necessarily when they have had the most time to prepare. It is typically the responsibility of family members to find evidence of abuse or neglect.聽

It may be up to you to check for indications of nursing home abuse because residents aren’t always in the correct frame of mind to verbalize mistreatment. For this reason, you are the first and most effective safeguard your loved one has against nursing home abuse that鈥檚 happening behind the scenes. 

Thankfully, most nursing home residents complete their stays with no signs of abuse present. Whether you鈥檙e looking out for your loved one鈥檚 safety, or simply trying to keep them emotionally fulfilled during their stay, these four tips should come in highly useful. 

That being said, the needs of each nursing home resident will be different, so take your loved one鈥檚 unique personality and life history into consideration when putting together your advocate plans.