Housing & Facilities
- Medicare Nursing
Home Compare These comparison ratings of nursing homes will help you make
a choice when the time comes.
- Assisted Living Facilities - helping seniors and their families research Assisted Living options.
- Assisted
Living Information on assisted living and retirement centers
and how to choose one.
- Secondfamily.com A wide
choice of elder care services. Headquartered in Seattle.
- SeniorLivingSource.com More than just a directory, SeniorLivingSource.org is a free referral service that can help you reach out to many communities to request free information from them, or even a free consultation. Lot of focus on alzheimers.
- Seniorhomes.com A free resource for finding senior homes/housing.
- Northwest Caregivers - Free directory of ALL Adult Family Homes and Boarding Homes in the state of Washington.
Listed by county, city and specialty. View results on a map - to give you an idea where facilities are located.
Health & Insurance
- AccentCare "Expert
assistance with caregiving needs." Providing a wide range of
quality personal in-home care options to enable seniors to live
at home independently.
- WebMD Got health questions?
WebMD, is a one stop source for health and wellness on the Web.
Peruse our library. Ask our health professionals. Chat with
others.
- About's Senior Health
Page. Wide variety of news and services of interest to
seniors.
Long Term Care
- Longtermcarewis.com An online
eldercare sourcebook -- extensive! Includes advice and faq's for
all levels of insurance as well.
Wills, Living Wills, Legal Asssistance
In-Home Care-Giving Services
- Home Care Services - helping seniors and their families connect with the right in home care provider.
- Alzheimer's Tool Box - a collection of the best free resources on the Internet for family caregivers of Alzheimer's patients.
- Home Instead An international organization providing a variety of in-home care services. They have a number of well-established offices in Seattle and King County. Phone number of the closest office is 206-622-4663.
- With a Little
Help Provides services for seniors and others with special
needs in Seattle and surrounding areas.
Northwest Senior Resources
Federal Resources
Making Sense of Medicare: Medicare Expands Program to Improve
Nursing Home Quality
By Pam Negri Public Affairs Specialist Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services Region 10
Selecting a nursing home for you or a loved one may just have
become easier. All too often, decisions about which nursing home
to choose are made under difficult circumstances without a lot of
information about the quality of care in a particular facility.
Now consumers in every state have a wealth of information
available at their fingertips about the quality of care in
Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes.
The Nursing Home Quality Initiative, launched by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, provides data designed
to help consumers across the United States make more educated
decisions when selecting a nursing home. Caregivers can obtain
copies of state nursing home inspection reports, review staffing
and affordability information, and compare newly released quality
measures such as a nursing home´s prevalence of bedsores,
pain, physical restraints, and infections among their resident
population.
Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) like Qualis Health,
which serves Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, and OMPRO, which
serves Oregon, are contracted with the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services to collect and publish data to help consumers
make decisions about nursing homes. Another key component of the
quality initiative is the information and consultation that QIOs
will offer skilled nursing homes in every state to improve the
quality of patient care.
The seven-month pilot project confirmed that targeted quality
improvement initiatives do indeed improve the quality of care.
One of the major indicators of quality evaluated was pain
management. Did the pilot result in any changes that eased the
pain of residents? In Washington state, for example, significant
improvements were noted in several nursing homes which worked
with Qualis Health: Tacoma Lutheran Home, Parkway Nursing Home in
Snohomish, Everett Rehabilitation and Care Center, and Cascade
Vista Convalescent Center in Redmond.
Using the Nursing Home Compare tool on www.medicare.gov , or by calling
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), consumers will be able to
compare specific nursing homes to others in the community or
nation on 10 different quality measures. The measures fall into
two categories - six for chronic care patients (long-term
residents) and four for post-acute care patients (short-term
residents). Among the measures are percent of residents: Who need
more help doing daily activities. Who have pain. Who have
bedsores.
We recommend that these quality measures should be one tool
among many that consumers use. Checking with state and local
ombudsman offices, visiting the nursing homes, and reading the
publication, A Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home, are also good
tools to use when looking for a nursing home for yourself, a
family member, or friend. The quality data, publication, and
findings from yearly on-site inspections and complaint
investigations by State Survey Agencies are available at
Medicare´s consumer friendly Web site www.medicare.gov or by calling the
24-hour help line, 1-800-MEDICARE.
Here are some Senior Numbers
- AARP: 206 526-7918
- El Centro de LaRaza: 206 329-9442
- King County Aging and Disability Services: 206 684-0699
- Gray Panthers of Seattle: 206 5236865
- National Asian Center on Aging: 206 624-1221
- Older Women's League: 206 325-3548
- Puget Sound Counsel of Senior Citizens: 206 448-9646
- Seattle Indian Commision (Senior Prog): 206 329-6594
If you know of a senior organization that should be listed
here, please let us know. Phone: 206-406-2298 or