Which Senior Living Staff Member Should You Take Your Complaints To?
Your dad finally agreed to move in to an assisted living community, you toured, found a great place, helped your dad figure out how many of his things he could bring, hired a moving company, and moved. And a month later? Heâs not happy or maybe youâre not happy. This week weâre talking about what to do if this happens to you!
If youâre a regular reader, you probably know that I own a company called Clear path Senior Living Solutions and we help families find the right Senior living community⊠thatâs Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care or Adult Family Homes. We work really hard to do a good job finding the right place but the truth is⊠we donât live in any of these places and from time time weâve worked with families who havenât been happy after moving in.
So in this post weâre going to talk about some reasons families have been unhappy and weâre going to take a closer look at the staffing structure of most senior living communities so you know who to bring your complaints to, should you have them.
I will outline some reasons that families reported being unhappy but the truth is these reasons donât just apply to adult family homes, they can apply to any senior living community. Letâs review some of the reasons that families gave for being unhappy:
Incorrect medications or missed medications
Not showering
Staff not communicating changes with the family
Incorrect billing
Staff taking too long to respond to a call button
Staff not returning calls or emails
When something goes wrong, it really doesnât matter what it is, it doesnât feel great especially when weâre talking about your mom or dad or grandparents. Youâre entrusting their care to someone else and you canât be there 24/7.
So what should you do?
Youâll hear me say over and over âyou are your loved oneâs best advocateâ. The first thing you should do is not feel badly about communicating your concerns. If you donât communicate, the staff may never realize thereâs an issue. As we know, you can fix what you donât know is broken.
So letâs take a look at the staff:
Executive Director
Maybe an Assistant Director
Director of Nursing (in assisted living and memory care)
Med Tech
Office Manager
Marketing Director (the oneâs who give the tours)
Maintenance Director
Director of Housekeeping
Activity Director
In a perfect world you shouldâve have met everyone but hereâs where things can get a little confusing or complicated: the people you will have spent the most intimate time with are usually NOT the ones you should be addressing your concerns with. When weâre talking about the healthcare of your loved one, that can be uncomfortable at the least.
Most families will take their concerns up with the caregivers or their original tour guide or marketing director, which makes sense but may not be the best route. First, chances are these staff members wonât be able to answer your questions or solve the problem.
The staff members youâre most comfortable with will be relaying your concerns to their supervisor who also may or may not be the staff member who can resolve your issue, so now you have someone relaying the information for the second, third, or even fourth time. By the time it gets to the correct staff member itâs rarely as you intended, sometimes itâs gets bigger and sometimes itâs not taken as seriously as you intended. Or youâre now in a position of having to term your story over and over again.
For example, you notice that the shampoo hasnât been used and you ask the caregiver why. They wonât usually be able to answer, theyâll most likely need to check the shower log and before they get to do that theyâre called to provide care for another resident or their supervisor isnât available. You get the pictureâŠ
So here are the very basic places to start when you have a concern:
Anything regarding care or care staff: Email or call the director of nursing to schedule a phone or in person meeting to address your concerns. Now of course. If your care concern is urgent, do not wait to schedule a meeting. Do your best to locate the director of nursing and if you canât then the Executive Director and of course if itâs a serious healthcare situation then call 911 and donât wait for someone to respond before doing so. Billing questions will usually go to the office manager. Contract questions will go to the Executive Director or Marketing Director (especially if you had negotiated something something special). If you have questions or concerns about activities then you can reach out to the Activity Director. All housekeeping questions should go to the Director of Housekeeping. For maintenance questions you should ask at the front desk first. Many times the front desk staff will field requests for maintenance since the team is usually busy working on things throughout the community.
Honestly, when I worked in Senior Living, I used to say that the front desk staff is your best friend! If you donât memorize this blog then the front desk should always know who you should address your concerns with and of course if youâre not able to resolve the situation with the appropriate director, you should go to the Executive Director.
Most importantly: Communicate. If the staff doesnât know the problem they canât fix it.
On a side note we have had many families over the years complain about not getting returned calls or emails. Sometimes this is because theyâve addressed the wrong staff person initially and sometimes this is just due to the high demand placed on these directors. Not only do they have to do their normal day to day jobs, but they have to handle all the questions and day to day changes that can happen with a large number of residents staff and families. Even though nothing can be perfect, you knowing your loved one best and your loved oneâs care is extremely important which is why we advise families to go with their gut when making a final decision on a community. Sometimes there are things that canât be overlooked. Most times though, a conversation with the right people can make all the difference!
