Lewiston Nursing Homes

From the very beginning, our site was created to help seniors and their families better understand the many complicated topics relating to nursing care. We want our information to lead to the most educated decision possible when they are choosing a nursing home.

Lewiston nursing homes tend to patients who need various lengths of nursing care for numerous health problems. Nursing homes offer residence to those who need high levels of social, medical and custodial care that cannot be provided by a lower level of care. Also called skilled nursing facilities, nursing home staff members, including registered and licensed nurses and physicians, certified nursing aides, specialists, social workers, non-medical personnel, food service and housekeeping workers, therapists and counselors, work together to bring comprehensive care to meet each patient’s needs.

The monthly cost for residency at a Lewiston skilled nursing facility is below the Idaho state median. Semi-private SNF rooms cost $5,703 per month, about $300 per month beneath the state median. Private SNF rooms run a monthly cost of $6,083, nearly $600 per month less than the Idaho median.

Nursing homes chiefly serve the needs of short-term and long-term care residents. However, they are also equipped to handle the diverse needs of family caregivers and their patients. Many home caregivers are unpaid friends, family members or neighbors. Respite care offers in home care patients a short period of nursing care. These stays are used to give family caretakers a break from the everyday stresses of caregiving and are also sometimes use to see if patients will be able to handle nursing care before making a more permanent transition. Adult day health care is for residents who need care during the workday. This gives family caregivers the ability to still go to work every day while knowing their patient is in safe and caring hands.

Short-term care is for patients who come from hospital care. They need to recover certain strength and functions lost from invasive operations, strokes, cardiac arrest, aneurisms, falls and other acute medical events. Hospital care is an important component of these patients’ rehabilitation processes. Hospital care services can be a determinant on how long a patient will need to spend under nursing care. Based on surveys of patients’ hospital experiences, the best hospitals in the Lewiston area are St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and Tri-State Memorial Hospital. Short-term nursing patients usually undergo some type of rehabilitative treatment. Doctors will assess whether they need occupational, respiratory, auditory, speech or physical therapy. Patients are monitored throughout their stay to optimize the effectiveness of recovery. Patients do not seek a full recuperation under shot-term care. They often transfer to an assisted living facility or in home care arrangement after short-term care.

Long-term care is for patients who require advanced treatment for serious medical conditions like paraplegia, emphysema, vision impairment, Alzheimer’s, Fibromyalgia, cancer and congestive heart failure. Nursing personnel offer around-the-clock supervision to ensure patients are staying on course with their personalized care plans. Many patients have physical and cognitive problems that demand responsive and swift treatment. Doctors and nurses administer regular health check-ups and are always ready to perform medical procedures like enteral feeding tubes, injections, CPR, wound care, ventilator management, medication adjustment and catheter care. Non-medical personnel deal with custodial care. They assist residents with dressing, feeding, toileting, grooming, washing and other activities of daily living. Many SNFs offer robust social services that include counseling, self-care, relaxation activities, recreational opportunities, events and outings. These are all part of the attempt to provide a high quality of life and to support patients’ psychosocial health.

To many seniors and their families, nursing homes are places of despair and unhappiness. Nursing homes are also often seen as institutions that rarely help their patients get better. These views are usually only derived from anecdotal evidence and cannot be seen as representative of the industry as a whole. Many long-term nursing patients are able to realize vast gains in their health. Many patients are able to return to their own home or to a lower level of care after prolonged skilled care. Although patients with terminal or progressive illnesses may eventually need hospice, around 70 percent of those over 65 will need a nursing care stay. The vast majority of these long-term stays are not the final destination for their patients.