Structurally, a nursing home should look more like a home and less like a hospital. What effort is made to have familiar belongings in the patient’s new home? Are patients permitted to have special pieces of furniture and bed covers from their homes? Are pictures permitted on the wall? Many families believe that if a nursing home looks good and smells good, it will be a good facility. An attractive building in a beautiful location can certainly make a good impression. However, there are other factors to be considered in addition to the facility’s appearance. Is the nursing home safe for Alzheimer patients? Have provisions been made to prevent patients from walking away from the home and/or becoming lost? Wandering is considered to be a major problem in nursing homes, those located in heavy traffic areas present additional management problems and can be dangerous for the patients.

Will patients have easy access to the places they will need to go restrooms, dining rooms, and activity rooms? Are there pictorial signs in easily observed places to facilitate the patient finding important places such as a restroom and perhaps his own room? For example, all restrooms might be painted orange with a picture of a toilet on the door. Perhaps the patient’s picture and name in large letters might be on the door to his or her room. When confronted with a corridor of many doors all of which look alike, the Alzheimer patient can become quite confused and frustrated.

Good housekeeping practices are essential. The simple effort of removing wastepaper baskets and locking closets can prevent problems for the patient. It is important to ask if the patient will be allowed to live in one room for a long period of time or are frequent moves likely? Frequent changes in the environment result in difficult adjustments for the Alzheimer patient.

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