TALKING RESPITE: With a Facility Manager
Finding respite through a day center, assisted living or a nursing facility? Here's what needs to be discussed.
BY:FRAN SILVERMAN
It is vital to start a relationship with respite-care workers that will benefit both the loved one and the caregiver, says Sara Myers, managing director of the National Adult Day Services Association. She advises the following:
If using a facility to provide respite coverage...
Become familiar with the policies of the facility
Check on staff training and staffing levels, how the facility handles emergencies, patient wandering and how they handle a patientwho doesn't like to be in groups or won't participate in certain activities
Ask how staff members handlesensitive personal care issues such as incontinence
Find out what approach staff members use toward difficult behavior
Ask how they handle patients with specific nutrition needs
Become familiar with staff supervisors and facility directors to whom care recipients can speak if they have a complaint in your absence or if you later want to discuss an issue that came up during the time of care
ALSO, go over the daily care instructions. Topics to discuss include but are not limited to:
When and how often you want to be updated on your loved one's status while you're away
Contact information, including how you want to be contacted—e-mail? cell phone?—with the appropriate addresses and numbers
Emergency contacts, in case you are not reachable
Foods to serve and feeding schedule
Medications to provide and on what schedule
Forms of entertainment your loved one enjoys
Areas of need, such as rising from a chair or bed, toileting, dressing, bathing
Guests who might pay a visit