Consider getting your loved one the continued care they require

Long-term care retirement homes (also called continuing care facilities or even "nursing homes"*) provide an ideal environment for your vulnerable and elderly loved one. These facilities are beneficial to your senior loved one, bringing him or her out of isolation and into a secure and safer community where needs will be well taken care of. Long-term care gives ailing seniors the chance to continue to participate in recreational and social activities as well as opportunities for companionship. In some people’s minds, long term care is synonymous with nursing or retirement homes but there are many other options for retirement living in Canada.

In a long-term care facility, your loved one will have access to a level of care and support not possible at home.

Considering long-term care in Canada
When thinking about long term care in Canada, it is absolutely imperative that you not wait for a crisis. You should discuss retirement home options now. As you embark on your search for long term care, here are some important things to bear in mind:

• Talk about preferences while your loved one's cognitive abilities are still intact
• On-site tours are essential to get a good "feel" of the place in person
• Bring a close relative or a friend - several sets of eyes are better than one
• Take a good look at the rooms and imagine yourself staying there. Return for a second look or stay overnight
• Stay for a meal
• Don't be shy - ask staff lots of questions
• Talk to current residents
• Ask for references
• Give yourself or your relative a reasonable amount of time to adjust to life in a new setting

Points to consider

• What specific care and support is required?
• What cultural supports are important?
• What spiritual supports are important?
• What types of things will make the move to a long term care home comfortable?
• Is 24-hour care and supervision required?
• Is my relative's impairment cognitive, physical or both?
• What would make me worry less about my care and safety, or that of my relative?

Some natural concerns for those facing long-term care

• I don't want to go into an impersonal institution
• I love my home and I don't want to part with my personal possessions
• Will I be served familiar foods? Will I be understood in my mother tongue?
• I have guilt pangs about putting my mom or dad "away"
• Will my relative be well cared for in a compassionate manner?

What do they cost?

• Basic or standard rooms are the least expensive and, in older buildings, tend to accommodate more than two residents
• There are also more expensive options such as "Preferred accommodations," usually semi-private or private rooms with more amenities
• Subsidies for basic or standard rooms are available for seniors with annual personal income at a certain level. At the time of this writing, that figure was more than $12,000 but less than $19,163.88. (You are expected to contribute a maximum of 30 per cent of their income)
• Your costs may be covered by your provinces’ health care insurance

Some more positives about long-term care facilities in Canada

• Some long-term care communities welcome some smaller furnishings and personal mementoes from home
• Some settings cater to particular cultural tastes, linguistic or religious backgrounds

*Within the senior care industry it is customary to correct people when they refer to "nursing homes." The phrase "nursing homes" has gone out of vogue as this entails that patients require constant nursing or it has become attached to negative media stories about abusive or neglectful treatment of the elderly. In any case, "nursing homes" is not used in the industry, where the phrase "long-term care" has a more modern, professional connotation.

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