Over the last couple of years, you have found yourself doing more work than usual to help your aging loved ones. You’ve decided it’s time to look for a senior living facility, but you aren’t sure who to trust. Use this guide to learn about the two types of websites to find reviews and how to tell if they’re honest so you can find excellent assisted living communities near you.
Third-Party Review Sites
Third-party review sites (like Yelp!) are a great way to find objective reviews on senior living communities. When scouring these sources, you want to employ a method I like to call “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” adopted from Clint Eastwood’s hit film, to help you find the perfect assisted living facility.
- The Good–These five-star reviews praise the community and elaborate on specific aspects of care and life. These reviews should be 20-30% of the thoughts you read.
- The Bad–These are the three-star reviews. Family members who rate a service three stars share good and bad things. These reviews should make up 40-60% of your readings.
- The Ugly–These reviews are the worst of the worst. Please don’t spend too much time in this section since nobody has anything good to say, but don’t completely overlook it either. Ugly reviews can shed light on serious issues that might present themselves when you visit senior living facilities. Nonetheless, don’t spend more than 10-30% of your time reading these reviews.
When you implement this strategy on third-party reviews, you can synthesize the information and make an educated decision. But don’t stop there–visit the parent site for each assisted living community you consider.
The Parent Website
It’s essential to visit the assisted living facility’s website, so you can learn about the offered services and whether it’s a fit. While on this page, look for reviews, but take them with a grain of salt–companies traditionally only share raving reviews.
When looking at these reviews, pay close attention to ones that specify services and amenities–these will give you a clear indication of whether or not the review is credible and if the community fulfills its promises.
How To Tell If Reviews Are Honest
The hardest part about this entire process is knowing whether you can trust a review. To help you harmonize dozens and hundreds of reviews, use these three tips:
- The General Consensus–Try to get a feel for how the general population using the specific community feel about their loved one’s treatment.
- Rating Average–Cross-reference the average rating with the reviews in that category, and that will give you a clear picture.
- Website Reputation–This tip is specifically for third-party reviews websites. If you find a review site you’ve never heard of and there aren’t many reviews available, don’t invest much time. Finding reputable reviews starts with a reputable site.
Conclusion
Finding the perfect independent living community is tough, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. With the right tools, you can quickly navigate the online community to find a new home for your aging loved one that improves everyone’s life.
If you’re in the Midwest, look for a Pivotal Health Care community near you. We have over 50 years of experience in the management of assisted living facilities, so we know what it takes to provide top-tier senior care. Schedule a tour with us today at the nearest location to take the next step into your future.