Choosing the Right Adult Daycare Center

Adult daycare centers provide high-quality care for seniors and a well deserved break for their caregivers. If you think that your loved one would enjoy some time out of the house with others, or if you just need a little time to yourself, there is likely going to a be an adult daycare center out there that will be right for your loved one. Keeping that in mind, there are few things that you should look out for while you are exploring the options that are out there.

What kind of activities?

The activities that are available at the center can make all of the difference. That being said, you will need to take special care to evaluate and rank each facility you visit by the activities that are offered—remember, these activities are what will define your loved one’s experience at the adult daycare center you select.

First and foremost, you want to select a center that has activities that will be well-suited to your loved one’s ability and interests. That is to say, activities that have been designed for individuals with Alzheimer’s in its later stages will be different than those who are dealing with symptoms more closely associated with the earlier stages of the disease.

Aside from taking your loved one’s ability into account, you will need to think about his or her own interests while evaluating the activities offered by a given center. That being said, it can be easy to get excited about the activities that are offered at an adult daycare center—particularly if they sound as though they may be interesting to you—but you need to make sure that the center you select offers activities in which your loved one will realistically want to participate.

How is the food?

It is not difficult to imagine why this one will be important. Your loved one will be having at least one meal at the daycare center, and you will want to make sure that the food is nutritious and that it will satisfy your loved one’s tastes and needs. Bearing that in mind, you should go ahead and sit in on a meal to try the food if you have an opportunity.

While you are there, you should go ahead and ask about what will be served for the rest of the week and about what kind of alternatives are available for your loved one if he or she is not in the mood for what is being served. Most places will offer at least one alternative to the main course and you may want to go ahead and ask to sample the alternative dish as well.

Aside from the more obvious considerations that you will need to make in regards to the quality of the food, you need to be sure that the center you choose can accommodate any other dietary restrictions your loved one may have. For instance, if your loved one needs to have his or her food cut up ahead of time, you will need to be sure that the kitchen or a caregiver can make sure your loved one’s food is properly prepared and served.

What about health services?

Some adult daycare centers are equipped to provide more comprehensive care than others. For instance, if your loved one needs to have a shot of insulin before meals, you will obviously need to make sure that your loved one will be able to consistently get the kind of assistance that he or she will need. In more general terms, some centers routinely offer other services like eye, ear, and dental exams to help your loved one stay one step ahead.

As important as each of these services may be for some, it is important to remember that they will likely affect the overall cost of the daycare center as well. That being said, you will want to be careful to find an adult daycare center that does not offer many more services than your loved one will actually want to use; otherwise you will end up paying an inflated price for unnecessary services. In any event, you should ask for a price break-down for all the services each center offers.

Are there personal care services available?

Depending on the facility, your loved one may be able to get more comprehensive help with his or her personal care from the care managers working in the daycare center. As such, your loved one may be able to get help with things like hairstyling, showering, eating, using the restroom, and just about any other routine task related to his or her personal care. It almost goes without saying that this level of care can go a long way to ease the mind of caregivers while they are away from their loved one.

Make Sure to Visit as Many Centers as You Can

When comes down to it, there is no way to really know what your option are until you get out there and see them with your own eyes. If your loved one is up for it, this could be the perfect opportunity for you to see how your loved one reacts in each of the unique centers that are out there. Chances are that you will find a good fit by keeping these questions in mind while you check out the different adult daycare centers in your area.