What if I told you that “in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, 44 percent of residents report that they have been victims of some type of physical, emotional, verbal, or sexual abuse while receiving care at a facility?” (https://mattsharplaw.com/news/consequences-of-abuse/) Sadly, this is the reality that most of our elderly will have to encounter at the tender last years of their life. If I had to submit a family member to a nursing home, I would require the facility to have working policies on answering all calls for help in a timely manner, and working policies on avoiding abuse of any kind in order to evade any aspects related, but not limited to, hospital dumping and abuse (by residents or caregivers). 

“Health care studies and patient surveys show that the average wait time in many facilities is 20 to 30 minutes.” (https://mattsharplaw.com/news/unanswered-help-calls/) For any elderly person in a serious condition, this wait time is crucial. When looking for a facility, I would enquire into the average wait time for these calls for help, because no one should be comfortable with their loved one not being a top priority of a facility that they are paying and trusting to take care of their family. 

Workplace policies on avoiding any kind of abuse would also be a top priority when choosing a facility to put my family member into. “Findings showed that resident-to-resident aggressive behaviors affected 19.8 percent of residents during a 30 day period.” (https://mattsharplaw.com/news/nursing-home-bullying/) Aggressive behaviors in residents can be caused by many issues such as certain health conditions, mental boredom, or even acting out for being abused themselves. I would enquire to the activities that the facility offers to keep the residents busy. Keeping residents busy with certain activities can help decrease any antagonistic behaviors they exhibit from not being mentally active. 

Sadly, abuse by residents is not the only issue when it comes to these facilities. Many nursing homes have been known to abuse their elderly residents. “Hospital Dumping” is an illegal eviction process for nursing home residents which has become a major concern for the elderly in the U.S. and about 9,000 people fall victim to this practice every year.” (https://mattsharplaw.com/news/residents-illegally-dumped/) When looking into a nursing home, I would need to be assured verbally and legally, by contract, that our family would be notified any time our relative would need to be admitted into the hospital, as well as be assured that they would be allowed to return to the nursing home once they recovered. 

To recapitulate, the “must-haves” I would be looking for in a nursing home would be: working policies and proof of a very short wait time on emergency calls, working policies and procedures to avoid abuse of any kind by other residents, and legal assurance that no abuse be brought upon my family member by the nursing home staff itself. Only if all these requirements were met, would I consider placing my loved one into a nursing home.