PAX Centurion - March / April 2014

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • March/April 2014 • Page 37 Stop by our store located at 53 Plain Street (rear) in Braintree or call us at (781) 843-5293. When your business or personal needs require custom embroidery or screen printing,we hope you choose The Embroidery Clinic for high quality and competitive pricing. Directors of the Retired Patrolmen’s Division of the BPPA: John Murphy David Mackin Joe Vannelli Joe O’Malley Billy Flippin • Seek answers. If your relative is reluctant to accepl care, try to figure out why, says Jackie Lapidus, executive director of Care Management Associates.Your relative may be assuming one sce- nario while you’re imagining another. • Turn the tables. Remind your loved one that by accepting help, he is easing your fears and making your life less stressful. Checking for quality P eople fare better when they live near what’s dear to them— friends, family, congregation. But once you find a facility in the right spot, make sure it’s a good one. To begin evaluating a residential facility, schedule a tour. Quiz the manager on how the facility addresses a resident’s specific and changing needs. Then make unscheduled visits. Ask residents what they enjoy about the community and what goes on during the day. Will your relative fit in? Most states license residential facilities. To discover your state’s licensing requirements, start with the departmentof-health. If it’s home health care you’re seeking, look for an agency that hires its own employees, rather than using independent contractors, says Paul Hogan, chairman of Home Instead Senior Care and coau- thor of Stages of Senior Care: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Best Decisions. Make sure a supervisor occasionally visits your rela- tive’s home to see how everything is going, says Hogan. And don’t expect a perfect match the first time. If you have concerns, tell the care provider and pos- sibly the management, too. When hiring in-home care, patience and perseverance pay. For both residential facilities and home health care, ask about accreditation, a credential awarded by one of several private agencies. Also consider these two websites, both of which rank nursing homes based on Medicare inspection data: Caregiverlist Inc. (care- giverlist.com) and the Medicare and Medicaid Nursing Home Com- pare guide ( medicare.gov/nhcompare ). Scan this now AARP’s Caregiving Resource Center offers much more info on finding help for your loved one. Scan this code or visit aarp.org/caregivers . (courtesy of AARP The Magazine, June/July 2012.)