Helping your parents to move out of the family home

There are some big events within the lifetime of a senior citizen, and few will compare in terms of the tremendous act of moving your parent moves out of their home into an Assisted Living or Residential Care facility.  It’s a surprisingly emotional call.  If your mama and pop are living within the same house for many years, there's a bond that could run extremely deep. Convincing your parent to proceed to Assisted-Living or Residential Care facility may be tough.   

Once you've got gotten them on board to make that huge move, the next major step is to seek out a facility.   Start with a reasonable checklist for what you're trying to find.  And once you enter that facility, don’t be ashamed to be particular about this listing. This may be your parent’s next home and where you will spend time when you visit. 

Your criteria should get quite specific. Assisted Living or Residential Care is very different from renting an apartment. They are also each very different from each other. There are some things to incorporate on your listing such as…

 Safety

 Foodservice.

 Emergency preparation.

 Ability to retort.

 Look and feel.

In addition to the above, try to get a feel for the staff and also try to meet with the current residents, and check out the calendar of social events. Once you have talked to a number of the residents you will get a sense if they are compassionate, friendly, and the type of people your parents will enjoy being around.  

If the facility you choose is close to you or to your parents' old neighbourhood, this is an advantage. Your parents will be familiar with the neighbourhood and will feel comfortable quicker.

If you have brothers and sisters you should talk about the move first and make sure you and your siblings along with your parents are all on the same page about the move.   

Once you begin to explore places it’s important that you just take your parent with you.  After all, if a place meets all your criteria but your parents don't like the facility, the criteria mean nothing.  If your parents are really into the idea of the move, you may find that they have already done the background work and all you may need to do is to act as an Uber driver to take them from place to place so they can interview the staff and management about life at the complex.