How to Help Someone Adjust to a Nursing Home

By the time your relative or loved one has to enter a nursing home, she might be unable to fully engage the staff and get the things she needs. It can be very helpful for the patient to have someone from the outside to bridge this gap, introduce the patient to the staff and ensure that all needs are being met.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Family photos
• Healthy snacks
• Time and patience

1. Bring photos. Having photos of friends and family members nearby can help remind the patient that he is remembered and loved. If the nursing home won’t allow you to hang up photos, make a photo album the patient can thumb through, and find a place to store it within reach.
2. Post a photo and the patient’s name near her bed, or bring the photo with you and show it to staff members—especially if the patient is unable to communicate. Seeing a photo of the patient when she was young and healthy will help remind staff members that this person was once part of the outside world.
3. Visit often. Nothing can take the place of regular visits—even very short ones—in improving the patient’s outlook. Stopping by for five minutes on your way home from work will change the quality of the patient’s life. If the staff realizes that you might show up at any time to check on your patient, that patient won’t ever be neglected.
4. Be willing to provide grooming services the staff can’t or won’t. Your patient might enjoy an occasional manicure or pedicure; the chance to apply high-quality perfume or cologne; a shampoo or conditioning treatment; or a relaxing shoulder or foot massage. Women especially appreciate the chance to spruce up a little bit, and it can help answer the question of what to do with your patient while you visit.
5. Bring in a lunch treat, if the patient is allowed to have it. Nursing home patients probably will enjoy the same foods they used to like, but are no longer served: fried chicken, a slice of pizza, a take-out sundae.
6. Remember, even if you find the nursing home unpleasant, the patient is still the same person he always was. Help your patient remember that he has an important place in life. If the patient is mobile, take him out occasionally. Keep the outings short and upbeat. Life can be good, right up to the very end.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t always visit at the same time; it reminds the patient that life still holds pleasant surprises and can keep staff on their toes.
• If you bring lunch, get there just before the time the patient regularly eats, and help him say “no thanks” to whatever is being served that day.
• Many nursing home patients appreciate the chance to attend a church service, a school play, or the Fourth of July fireworks. If you're unable to take the patient out, consider accompanying her to one of the nursing home's own services or entertainment activities.
• Be certain the patient's doctor approves any snacks or activities.