Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the most asked question about Residential Care for the Elderly.
- What kind of care will my loved one receive at an RCFE (Residential Care for the Elderly)?
- In general, in most RCFE's your loved one will receive better and more one-on-one care. Depending on the size of the facility, most are between 6 and 12 person, but they can range from a few residents, to up to 200 residents in large facilities. Generally, in small 6 bed or so facilities, there are more caregivers per residents then large facilities. Case in point, most 6 bed facilities have at least 2 caregivers, and they are usually live in. If you find an RCFE with only 1 caregiver, we would say that is a bit overbearing for 6 persons, unless an administrator also lives on site.
- What is an Administrator in a Residential Care Home?
- Each RCFE has to have a minimal of 1 Administrator per home. Most have 2 with another backup that runs another facility. The Administrator is responsible for the home, the caregivers and the day-to-day care and actions in the residential facility. An Administrator has to be licensed by the state, thus, all Administrators must take and pass a licensing exam in order to become an Administrator. An Admnistrator also must complete continuing RCFE education classes every 2 years, which amounts to 20 hours in class & 20 hours online class training.These classes must be by an approved DSS (Department of Social Services) training center. Once the continuing RCFE education classes are finished, they must be sent, or uploaded to the state to assure that they have been completed. When you arrive at a RCFE, the approved Certificates for the Administrator(s) must be posted in an accessible area.
- What kind of training do the Caregivers have?
- In the state of California, all Caregivers must also go through training and also be retrained every two years. For some of their training they can be trained hands on at the facility (shadow training) with training also online, or in person. This training the first year is to be completed in the first 4 weeks of working at an RCFE. In general, most anyone can become a Caregiver, as long as they just "care". One might think of it as, there are nurses that do the job, for just the job & money, and there are nurses that do the job, because they care. In this business, you have to find the people that care.
- How do I know a Caregiver is not a bad person?
- I suppose the best answer is we find out as they work, but this is not the only case. All persons that live in an RCFE (if they work their or not, but not the residents) must be fingerprinted. These fingerprints must be done by a "Live Scan"agency are are cross-checked with the local goverhment and federal government such as the Calfornia Department of Justice, and/or the FBI for processing. You can rest assured in most cases, they Caregivers you find, are usually good people doing a job most do not want.
- Do RCFE's have nurses?
- Most do not. The reason is, in most cases the residents coming in usually have their own home health care, or hospice care where they reside.So, most of the time a nurse can be called and arrive withing the hour, to the next day, depending on the issue. There are some Nurse & Doctor run homes, but being in this business since 2009, we can say that many of those homes run no better then those that are not run by Nurses or Doctors. This comes down to the same reasoning really, some are in it for the money, some are in it for the care. We have met homes run by just about anyone, and in the end, it is the care given or pushed by those that run the home, and the caregivers that work there.
- I hear Hospice and it frightens me, does Hospice mean death?
- Absolutely not. Hospice is there for "quality of life". Sometimes a resident is on their end of life process, and this is usually when a person elects to go on hospice. However, this does not mean necessarily the resident will die. Many times, we have had residents that elected to go on hospice after their home health care becuase they felt they were dying. I can say whole heartily, that some people come back from a good hospice team and can live for years more depending on the issues they are having. Case in point, we had a resident that felt she was dying, came with a bed sore from the hospital when she moved in, water in the lungs, and wheeping water from most extremities, all the while bed bound. After she elected hospice, thinking she was at lifes end, the hospice team & our caregivers worked with her, and within a few months she improved enough that her bed sore healed, she began to use a wheel chair, and soon started walking with the walker. Most amazingly, she started playing piano again and lived for 4 more years. We will always remember her. Hospice does not necessarily mean the end, and sometimes it can be quite the opposite.
- Why are there no locks on the doors?
- In an RCFE there can only be locks on the inside under very rare circumstances. The reason for this is many times as our residents age, they start to forget some things, pick up dementia, or may not be ambulatory (ambulatory means the ability to walk). Because of this, and emergency situations, locks are generally not permitted on the inside of the facility. To be more specific, No night latch, dead bolt, security chain, or similar locking device may be installed on any interior door leading from a bedridden client's sleeping room to a corridor, hallway, or general use area.