What questions should I be asking at an adult day program?
September 9, 2018 9:25 PM

I have an appointment tomorrow to tour an adult day program for my father, who has dementia. What questions should I be asking, and what should I be on the look out for?

If you have personal experience with any similar services in the Sacramento area, I would love to hear them.
posted by sacrifix to Health & Fitness (5 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
Ask about staff turnover, how long are staff there typically before they move on?
Ratio of staff to guests.
Ask about toileting / diapering. Look athe facility.
Meals what is served, is there help? How much time to eat? Are these foods your father would eat?
Basically the same questions you would ask for a child's daycare.
posted by 15L06 at 11:15 PM on September 9, 2018


What happens if he wanders away? Note that this is expressly not "How do you keep him from wandering away?"
posted by Etrigan at 6:22 AM on September 10, 2018


Watch how the staff interacts with clients? Do they talk to them respectfully? Do they explain what is about to happen and give clients a chance to respond?
Does the person giving the tour know people by name and can tell you something about them as individuals?
How do they deal with people at different levels of cognitive decline? Are there activities to engage people in conversation and encourage active participation and use of their intellectual facilities for the ones who would benefit from it? Are there alternate activities or things that can be done a different levels so people are bored or upset if they can't participate?
posted by metahawk at 7:03 AM on September 10, 2018


Seconding metahawk - another way to see how they treat their clients is what do they ask you about? When I took MrsMogur to an adult day care, they had long questionnaires and lots of verbal questions, everything from favorite music to childhood memories, and as far as I could tell, they paid attention to the answers.
posted by Mogur at 9:51 AM on September 10, 2018


Thanks for the questions, I felt much more prepared during the appointment. It appears that this particular location might be for people that are further along than my father, so that was a relief. Sort of.
posted by sacrifix at 3:18 PM on September 10, 2018


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