What to Look for in a Long Term Care Facility

Anne Osmer Reporting

Teri Clark, administrator at St. Anthony Health Care Facility in Warren, provides some tips when it comes to choosing a long term care facility:

• Visit the facility.  Come in, see how it feels, see how it smells.  "The smell is it," says Clark.  The building should be free of odors of urine and other bad-smelling substances.

• Look for interactive staff and a management team that is available to you.  Make sure you meet the head administrator and the director of nursing.  Clark gives every family her personal card and cell phone number.  She and the director of nursing make it a point to get to know families.  Make sure you receive no less.

• Once you've chosen a place for your loved one, make sure to be there.  Get to know the staff, says Clark, and let the staff get to know you.  Be involved.  Know the management team.  Any good facility will let you do that, she stresses.  

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