Seattle Nursing Homes

Seattle nursing homes are institutions that give medical treatment in conjunction with residence and around-the-clock supervision. Patients are admitted because they have the need for the home’s rehabilitative services or have trouble with activities that allow them to live independently. Our site wants to help seniors and their families understand what services skilled nursing facilities provide and to help them choose a care option that best fits their needs.

Seattle skilled nursing facilities offer a diverse number of services that care for specialized issues. The most common events that land seniors in a nursing home are strokes, aneurisms and falls. Along with medical care, nursing home staff provide companionship and other social services that aid patients’ day to day living. The broadest breakdown of care type is between short-term and long-term care. Short-term care patients expect to recover from their ailments within a short period of time. Many undergo physical therapy and other rehabilitative options. When they are discharged from the nursing home, they may have sufficiently healed enough to resume their daily lives or may need less inclusive care like assisted living care. Nursing home personnel look to maintain the health levels of long-term patients. Some have severe mental or physical impairment. Nurses, physicians, and non-medical staff help them with issues like medicine management and activities of daily living like bathing, washing and eating. Some long-term patients do improve and later seek assisted living care. Others deteriorate and must be moved to hospice.

Long-term patients often end up in nursing homes because previous levels of care can no longer treat their conditions. Short-term patients usually end up in a nursing home because they need further treatment after a hospitalization. Future nursing care patients should look to get the best hospital care they can under the circumstances. Hospital care is the first step in their recovery period so it is important to start off right. The best Seattle, Washington area health care centers, based on patients’ hospital experiences, are Harborview Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center/Cherry Hill and University of Washington Medical Center.

Seattle has a high cost of general living. Senior care costs are high as well. Semi-private and private nursing home rooms bear a monthly cost of $7,811 and $8,803. Assisted living care costs $4,500 per month. Homemaker services and home health aide cost $4,690 and $4,763 per month. Adult day health care will run $1,282 per month. The cost of nursing care is a difficult pill to swallow for many seniors and their families. Often insurance plans and Medicare will not cover enough of the cost. Medicare only covers the first 100 days of a nursing care stay within a benefit period.

Nursing care comes with a host of problems and shortcomings. They affect the senior patients, their families and caregivers. Although in recent years nursing homes have been derided due to many cases of negligence or abuse, it is important to remember there are many quality facilities. These institutions put a premium on making sure their patients are well taken care of, happy and entertained. Our site wants to help seniors and loved ones find a quality nursing home that also intersects with their financial, location and specific care needs.