Touring a community: what to ask and what to notice

Before you go

Go at a mealtime or mid-morning, not during a scheduled event. Bring the person if they are able; their reaction matters more than yours. Ask for the admissions director and, if possible, the nurse in charge.

Notice

• Do staff greet residents by name, and do residents look at ease with them?
• Smell, light, noise. A building can be old and still be clean and calm.
• Are residents doing something, or parked in front of a television?
• How long does a call light take to answer? Ask, then watch.

Ask

• What is the license, and what happens if needs grow? Can they stay, or would they have to move?
• What exactly is included in the monthly rate, and what is extra: medication management, incontinence care, escorts to meals?
• Staffing overnight. Who is in the building at 2am, and is there a nurse?
• How do you handle a fall, a hospital trip, a change in condition? Who calls the family?
• Is there a waitlist, and what does it actually mean?
• Can we see the room that would be theirs, not the model?

Bring

Afterward

Write down three things while they are fresh. In CarePair, the case page asks how the tour went once it has passed; your advisor reads it and the community never does.