Visi Your Parent in the Nursing Home to Prevent Elder Abuse
Posted on: 6 July 2015
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Placing your parent in a nursing home may be the smartest decision for your parent's health and safety, but it can also be a worrisome experience for you. Nursing home abuse happens often, but there are ways you can prevent it and reduce the chances of abuse happening to your parent. The best strategy is to frequently visit your parent at the nursing home.
Planning your visits
Research shows that nursing home residents that get frequent visitors are less likely to be abused or neglected during their stay. This is why you should make a habit of visiting your parent as often as possible. As you plan these visits, avoid going at the same time each day. Instead, plan your visits
- On different days of the week
- At different times of the day
- A different number of times per week
In other words, plan your visits so they are always different. By doing this, the staff will never know when you are coming, yet they will know that you will be there often.
Another good reason to visit at different times of the day is so you can see what your parent's schedule is like. If you visit during meal times on certain days, you can see how meals are served and what the meals contain. If you visit near bedtime, you can see the routines used to get the residents to bed. This will give you a clear picture of how the facility is run, and it will also help you determine if there are certain shifts that are understaffed.
Why this matters
While most nursing home abuse is not intentional, it can happen because the facility is understaffed or undertrained. In many cases, the abuse that occurs is neglect, which results when patients are not cared for properly.
When you visit your parent often, the staff will begin to get to know you. Because of this, they may spend more time caring for your parent because they can be certain that you will be there soon.
On the other hand, if there is a resident that never gets visitors, the staff might not be as worried about this person. They will know that this resident rarely gets visitors, and they may not spend as much time with this resident.
Making the decision to place your parent in a nursing home can be difficult, but staying involved in his or her life will make life better for your parent. If you would like to learn more about nursing homes, contact one like Diamond View Assisted Living in your area.