How to Choose the Right Continuing-Care Retirement Community - Continuing Care Retirement Community Information

How to Choose the Right Continuing-Care Retirement Community
Last updated: 06-May-2009
By Nell Bernstein, Caring.com senior editor

When choosing a continuing-care retirement community:

Ask to see licensing reports. This will give you an idea of how any given community has fared on past inspections and whether there have been any substantiated complaints.
Look at the activity calendar and see whether it matches the interests of those you're caring for.
Be sure to visit all three wings or areas -- independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing -- to get an impression of whether they're clean and pleasant, whether residents seem content, whether enough staffers seem to be present for the number of residents, and so on.
Spend time there. As with any retirement or care community you're looking into, there's no substitute for spending time there: joining residents for meals and talking with them about their experience. (If administrators discourage you from talking to current residents, this may a red flag.)
The whole idea behind continuing care is that this is a place for seniors to spend the rest of their lives, so invest some time in getting to know a community and making sure they feel comfortable there before making a commitment.

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