We hadn’t a clue where to begin the search for senior housing. We started with a geographic search on Google for senior housing and found dozens of websites- mostly advertisements or placement agencies offering to help us find the best options.
We were frustrated by the fact that we couldn’t find a single site that gave us objective, up-to-date information with the relevant data we needed. Why would we consider making such an important decision without the necessary information at hand? I never would have put my kids in a day care without extensive research and was not going to find senior housing for our folks without a comparable level of due diligence.
Does the community allow pets? Do they offer gluten-free food? Do they offer transportation to and from the doctor? Do they have a bridge club—very important traditional social activity to our folks. Who are the residents and what are their backgrounds?
We didn’t know what we needed to know and we wished we could have had an overview of the key considerations to narrow our options and save us precious time. Instead, we visited several communities and found ourselves unable to discern one place from another with a brief visit.
Don’t get me wrong. Making a site visit was essential and you can feel significant differences from one community to another. I recommend talking to the existing residents and staff when you visit as well as requesting the names of family members to call for references.
Remember using Cliffs Notes in college? What we needed was an equivalent for beginning our search for senior housing. Because of our experiences, we worked with professionals to prepare two educational booklets as quick and easy references for families starting the search for senior housing.
The first is a general booklet entitled “Senior Housing: What You Need to Know”. We later made a dementia specific version entitled “Dementia Care and Housing: What you Need to Know” which you can have mailed to you by calling SNAPforSeniors at 206 575-0728 and requesting the booklet.