What Are the Features of a Good Care Home

Australia’s need for first-rate care facilities for the aged community is growing as the country’s population grows. Families searching for comfort and peace of mind for their elderly loved ones frequently seek out facilities that offer a variety of amenities and services to improve life quality and essential care. Discovering the right care home, a place where they feel safe, happy, and cared for is an important and often baffling choice most of us must make at some point in our lives.

Space is an important factor. A facility aged care Healesville with courtyards and gardens is preferrable to a closed institutional-like environment. Are their communal spaces with opportunities to interact and socialize with other members? Exterior areas where the seasons can be observed? Bird feeders? Being close to nature and fellow humans is essential from the day we are born until our final years.

Another important factor is the staffing. Staff training, morale, and turnover all play an important role. In Australia no minimum skill levels for residential aged care workers are federally mandated, so to ensure that your elderly relatives are having their emotional and physical well-being met is important, and to do so we need to observe the staff-to-resident ratio, the bonds formed between staff and residents, and the amount of time interaction between staff and residents. Watch how staff monitor and assist their residents, and how they react to immediate medical requirements. Do the staff seem stressed and overworked?  Or do they approach each resident with unconditional positive regard? Have the care home access to a pharmacy, and access to medical consultation, and is a systematic review of medical treatments and approaches in place?

While in-home nursing can be an option for those of us who are retired and on hand to be with our elderly relatives, the peace of mind of a secure day-to-day environment is the only option for many of us who have to work each day.

When looking for a potential care home the cleanliness, maintenance, design, and comfort of the facility itself should be taken into consideration. Are their provided spaces with access to telephones and Internet capabilities? Is reading material at hand? Boardgames? Are there opportunities for, and a feeling of community? Is the care home welcoming? Is it better than an in-home program?

Food is also a consideration in a care home – what is the daily food budget? Does the aged care home cater for your elderly one’s dietary requirements?

All of these factors are essential considerations when choosing the right care home for your loved ones in their time of need.