Mom has landed herself back in the hospital again with a UTI and likely sepsis. I am predicting a three day stay, which will lead to a 30 day stay in a rehab facility. They will most likely ask me where I would like Mom to go.
My choices are:
1) A facility about 5-10 minutes from my house. The care is adequate, but not spectacular. The décor is dreary, but the place is clean, food is horrible, really horrible, but mom doesn't eat anyway. Mom won't participate in any activities anyway, but the offerings are lame.
2) A facility 30-35 minutes away. I have not seen it, but I have heard good things.
On a website that rates rehab facilities and nursing homes, #1 has a 78% rating and #2 has a 90% rating.
If Mom goes to facility #1 I will visit her 5-6 days a week, usually short visits, but I have been known to stay longer or visit more than once a day. My kids will visit some.
If Mom goes to Facility #2, I will only visit her once, maybe twice a week because I have a 12 and 14 year old, work full-time and part-time as a Disney Travel Agent, hold a position on the HOA board and have a husband who travels a lot.
Either way, I will keep Carol, one of her caregivers, on the schedule for a few hours a day. Carol lives minutes from falicity #2.
So, would you put your mother in a lesser place but with more company or a better place with little company? As of right now, it would be for 30-40 days but I won't rule out that it could become permanent.
It is a long drive for me every day but nicer her for her.
I agree, visit place #2, have a meal and talk to some families if you can (maybe visit on a wknd so you can catch more ppl). If the care is that much more superior and it will make a difference to your mom then it's worth considering. Good luck!
BTW, I forgot to mention in my earlier post that Mom had two stays in #1 two years ago and it wasn't a bad place but it has changed management and her last stay there in January of this year was vastly different from her other stays. The place ahs gone down hill.
I am sure that right now, Mom is not in a position to weigh in on the issue so I am trying to go by how I would feel if I were the one who was going to be in-patient. While I think visits are important to her, I am leaning toward the better place.
If I were you I would visit facility number 2 before making any decisions. Have a meal there and see what the ambiance is like. Would it make a difference for your mom?
I think I would choose the facility with the superior care and the less dreary facility... even if it were a little farther to drive. You have to think about yourself as well. would you want to go to a dreary facility every day?
Maybe if you have a superior facility you may only need to go twice a week or so?