Assisted Living Facilities in Tyler, Texas

Finding a place to start when searching for Assisted Living Facilities for a parent can be hard because it is not always clear what is the main care service to be looking for. Do you need to find a facility that has great architecture? Do you need to find a facility that has good food? What about quality care? And staff to resident ratio?

The latter questions are rarely considered. Most assisted living facilities at one time or another have neglected the residents. The facilities may have great food but if there are 30 residents to every care worker, how often do you think your parent is probably left in their bed with soiled clothes? An assisted living facility might say that these types of residents would be considered incontinent and that they do not have any residents like this because that would be illegal. The truth is that there is a fine line between an incontinent resident and someone who can take care of themselves. There is a very likely chance the assisted living facility will have several residents that cannot take care of themselves sufficiently. The staff is not trained to effectively take care of these residents. The care workers will often disrespect, embarrass and neglect your parent.

Because the distinction is a fine line you will find your parent crossing this line while at the assisted living facility as she becomes harder to care for. Unfortunately many children of the residents are not made aware that their parent can no longer control their bowel movements or even wipe themselves. They are often oblivious that their parent is at the mercy of an untrained care worker who is not even required to help with bathroom duties. Assisted Living facilities get away with abuse and neglect because they are supposedly free and clear of incontinent residents. By now you should realize that this is not so. Rights violations most often happen in these types of facilities because they have an ambiguous title, "assisted living" and are not held up under any specified structure or guidelines such as a nursing home.

There is a volunteer organization called the Ombudsman program in Texas (1-800-252-2412 www.dads.state.tx.us) that helps in making sure there are no rights violations of the elderly within these facilities. This is a Texas state volunteer agency established to protect the rights of those who cannot effectively communicate or voice their abuse and neglect that has been acted upon them. This organization can keep you informed of rights violations of assisted living facilities, and nursing homes in your area.

The Department of Aging in Texas can also assist in giving you data on assisted living and retirement communities that have received complaints and been researched as having committed abuse and neglect against their residents. It is important to check with the state on each facility you are considering sending your parent to. Make sure that they will be treated with dignity and respect during their stay there. Social activities, good food, facility layout and design, physical therapy and other elderly care services will not help your parent if they are shown abuse and neglect on a daily basis.

In Summary, speaking with the government, when your parent has been moved into an assisted living facility is only a start. You should drop in unannounced at various times when activities and dining and care are being performed. Take note of how many care workers are on staff at these times. If you witness a ratio below their advertised number you should report this to the department of aging. This will automatically translate to abuse and neglect as the staff workers become over worked and have to deal with excessive accidents they are not trained in dealing with.