Touring and Evaluating

A tour is a sales visit unless you make it something else. Communities know how to give a good one. Fresh cookies, a bright lobby, a friendly director, a room with good light. None of that tells you how your mother's Tuesday will feel.

These guides teach you to read a building. Go at an odd hour, not the one they suggest. Two in the afternoon on a weekday shows you the real staffing pattern. Watch how caregivers talk to residents when nobody is being toured, and whether residents are out in common space or parked in front of a television. Listen for call lights and count how long they ring. Eat a meal there, not a plate arranged for guests. Look at the fingernails and the hair of the people who live there, because grooming is the first thing that slips when a floor is short staffed.

Then ask the questions that get past the script. What is your caregiver to resident ratio on the overnight shift? How long has the current director been here, and the one before? What is your turnover? Who is on site when the nurse goes home? What triggers a care level increase and how much does it cost? When have you asked a resident to move out, and why?

The guides in this set include a red flag list, a question set for assisted living and one for memory care, guidance on reading Colorado inspection records through CDPHE, and how to compare two communities without letting the nicer lobby win. We also cover second visits. Bring a different family member and go at a different time of day, because a place that only looks good once is not a place.

Take notes while you are standing there. Everything blurs after the third tour, and the details you forget are the ones that mattered.

Score your visits side by side with our community scorecard.