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Evaluating an Assisted Living Facility

Your selection of an assisted living facility should involve both tours of the places you are considering and extensive conversations with those running the facility. Comparing different facilities to one another can seem overwhelming. Use the checklist of questions below to help you notice important details that can reveal the true quality of a facility and aid you in the selection process. Note that if you are evaluating assisted living facilities on behalf of a loved one, you should try to involve them in the process and get as much of a sense of their desires as possible. He or she is the one who will actually be living in the facility, and his or her comfort, happiness, and satisfaction is the most important outcome. In General
  • What is your gut feeling about the assisted living facility both at the beginning and end of your visit?
  • Do the current residents seem happy and satisfied?
  • If you are able to talk with residents or their families about their experience, what do they say?
  • What do you learn when you research reviews and other information about the facility online?
Environment
  • Is the facility clean and free of odors?
  • Is the temperature appropriate?
  • Does the environment feel attractive and comfortable?
  • How many units are in the facility?
  • Does the assisted living facility offer private or shared rooms, or a mix?
  • What common areas are available?
  • Will any features of the community pose a problem for your condition?
  • Are the rooms large enough to meet your needs comfortably?
  • What are residents allowed to bring with them when they move in?
  • What are residents allowed or not allowed to do within their own rooms?
Nature and Quality of Care and Services
  • Does each resident have a written care plan? How often is it reviewed and revised?
  • Who is involved when assessing the resident’s needs? How much say does the resident have?
  • How does the assisted living facility adapt as the resident’s needs change?
  • What services does the facility offer and how often are they provided?
  • Is staff available to assist the residents 24 hour per day?
  • Are special care units available, for example for dementia patients?
  • How often are meals served, what times, and where?
  • How much variety is there in the menu?
  • Does the kitchen accommodate special needs and requests?
Safety
  • Is the facility well lit and does it have clear signage?
  • Are there call buttons in the rooms?
  • Are there safety locks on the windows and doors?
  • Are there handrails in the bathrooms and elsewhere in the facility?
  • Is the carpet firm to assist with walking, and are there non-slip materials on the floor?
  • Is there an emergency generator or another plan in place for power outages?
  • What do the assisted living facility’s fire safety and security systems consist of?
  • What is the plan if a resident wanders off?
  • What is the plan for a resident’s medical emergency?
  • What is the hiring process for new employees? Is there a background check?
  • What are the policies about elder abuse and neglect?
Community
  • Would you or your loved one get along with the assisted living facility’s current residents?
  • How does the staff treat you?
  • How does the staff interact with the current residents? Do they seem to have a good relationship with them and know their names?
  • How do staff members treat each other?
  • Are residents chatting with one another during meals?
  • What organized activities are on the schedule? What activities do you notice taking place? Are they well-attended?
  • Are residents encouraged to attend activities?
  • How much interaction do residents have with the outside community?
Fees and Policies
  • Are you allowed to examine a contract? Does it clearly lay out all services, fees, and policies?
  • How much is the entrance fee and security deposit? Is the deposit refundable?
  • What is the monthly fee?
  • Is long-term care insurance accepted?
  • How does the assisted living facility bill for services?
  • What is the policy on late payments?
  • How are rate increases handled?
  • What if the resident runs out of money?
  • What are the rules for when residents must leave the facility? What are the most common reasons why residents leave?
  • How are refunds and transfers handled?
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Can Coconut Oil be the answer?

From CBN TV: Researchers say the ketones found in coconut oil have slowed the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in some people and may actually prevent it. Click here to read the article and download information.   Transcript:
Can Coconut Oil Be the Answer?Lori Johnson: Steve Newports Alzheimer’s disease has slowed considerably. Some of his symptoms even reversed thanks to an unlikely treatment prescribed by his wife, Doctor Mary Newport a physician who runs a neonatology ward at a Tampa, Florida hospital. She became determined to help her husband after he failed the so called Alzheimer’s clock test.Doctor Mary Newport: He drew a few little circles and several numbers just in a very random pattern, didn’t really look anything like a clock and the Doctor pulled me aside and she said, “You know he’s actually on the verge of severe Alzheimer’s at this point, he’s beyond moderate”. So that was very, very devastating news. Lori Johnson: Doctor Newport began learning everything she could about her husbands disease. Doctor Mary Newport: It appears to be a type of diabetes of the brain. It’s a process that starts to happen at least 10 or 20 years before you start having symptoms and it’s very similar to type 1 or type 2 diabetes in that you develop a problem with insulin. Lori Johnson: In this case, insulin problems prevent brains cells from excepting glucose, their primary fuel. Without it the cells eventually die, but there is an alternative fuel, key tones which the cells easily except. Key tones are metabolized in the liver after you eat medium chain triglycerides, which are found in coconut oil. So Doctor Newport added coconut oil to Steve’s diet. Just two weeks later he took the clock test again and as you can see demonstrated stunning improvement. Doctor Mary Newport: I thought at the time was it just good luck? Was it a lot of prayer? Was it the coconut oil? And I thought well, we’re going to keep the coconut oil going. Lori Johnson: Then, 3 weeks later he took the clock test for a third time, and continued to get better and it wasn’t just intellectually, he also improved emotionally and physically. Doctor Mary Newport: He was not able to run, he was able to run again or he couldn’t read for about a year and a half but after somewhere around 2 or 3 months he was able to read. Instead of being very sluggish, not talking very much in the morning, he would come out with energy and talkative and joking and he could find his water and utensils. Lori Johnson: Doctor Newport documented Steve’s success in a book called, Alzheimer’s Disease: What if there was a Cure? She received this stake of thank you letters from other people who’s loved ones Alzheimer’s was helped after they followed Steve’s diet. While coconut oil is encouraging, there’s actually something much more powerful. A team of biochemists lead by Professor Kieran Clarke at England’s Oxford University have developed a key tone, Ester, that packs a punch ten times great than coconut oil. Kieran Clarke: It reaches quite considerably higher levels and you can get whatever levels you want depending on how much you drink. Lori Johnson: The problem is, they need millions of dollars to mass produce it. Kieran Clarke: Very expensive and so we can’t make very much of it ourselves and what we would like is funding so that we can actually scale up and make it but of course there is no real profit in manufacturing stuff like that. Lori Johnson: So until a high potency key tone, Ester, is available to the general public coconut oil is still a good key tone source. Just make sure it’s pure, non hydrogenated. Avoid any hydrogenated oil, which is the same thing as dangerous trans fat. Many people avoid coconut oil because they think it’s bad for them, but it’s actually very healthy. Dr. Beverly Teter is a researcher at the University of Maryland who specializes in dietary fats. She says years ago coconut oil was criticized for raising cholesterol, but scientists have since learned there are two kinds of cholesterol. Low density lipoprotein, the bad kind and High density lipoprotein which is very good for you and is the kind that coconut oil raises. Doctor Beverly Teter: So they put out the message that it increases the serum cholesterol but the truth of the matter was helping to profile of the serum cholesterol. That never has been corrected in the public press and I think that’s the reason people have the misconceptions about it. Lori Johnson: So, not only does coconut oil improve your cholesterol levels, Doctor Teter says the way it helps the brains of some Alzheimer’s patients can be extended to people with Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Epilepsy, Dementia, even Schizophrenia and Autism and one more thing, coconut oil is a natural antibiotic that also helps kill viruses like Human immunodeficiency virus and Herpes viruses. Doctor Beverly Teter: The coconut oil tends to keep the bacteria down so that if you’re assaulted with a virus, you’re immune system can concentrate on the virus. It doesn’t have to concentrate on 27 other bacteria that you may have been exposed to that day. Lori Johnson: So consider coconut oil to improve your over all health and perhaps even go so far as to stave off life threatening diseases. Lori Johnson, CBS News
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