Santa Ana Nursing Homes Information

Short-term nursing care focuses on rehabilitating patients that have lost functions or strength due to an acute medical event. Short-term patients look to move to lower levels of care or back home once discharged. On a prescribed basis, physical, occupational, respiratory and speech therapy are used to optimize the recovery process. Long-term care is for patients with severe to moderate physical and mental disabilities. Nurses and physicians administer periodic to 24 hour monitoring and medical treatment. This includes procedures like blood work, medicine dosage, intravenous fluids, wound care and colostomies. Non-medical staff are on hand to help with custodial care. Oftentimes long-term patients have trouble completing activities of daily living, like dressing, washing, eating and walking. Non-medical caregivers try to meet the custodial needs of all patients while allowing them to retain as much independence as possible. Social workers coordinate and run wellness programs to keep long-term patients engaged around the home.

Long-term care stays are normally needed due to the declining state of a known medical problem. Short-term stays are abrupt consequences of medical events requiring hospitalization. During the patient’s hospital visit, a doctor will evaluate whether or not a nursing stay is needed for further recovery. It is vital for future short-term patients to seek the best hospital care available because they will be receiving care for their initial period of recovery. The best health care services around Santa Ana can be found at St. Joseph Hospital and University of California Irvine Medical Center.

Santa Ana’s nursing care costs are well above the national average and a little under 10 percent below the California state median. Semi-private and private SNF rooms have an expected monthly cost of $7,148 and $8,557, respectively.

Seniors and their families are often concerned about the quality of care they look to receive. Some patients may be incapacitated and are not able to directly communicate their needs to caregivers. The most well-trained nursing care personnel will be able to appropriately care for their patients, but there are cases of improper care. Some caregivers can overuse medication or restraining methods when seriously sick patients get confused and hard to control. However, there are many institutions with dedicated, committed, attentive, vigilant, caring and knowledgeable staff. We want to give seniors and their loved ones the information they need to thoroughly weigh their options so they can ultimately decide on the highest quality skilled nursing care that matches their emotional, medical and financial needs.