Selecting a personal care home for yourself, a friend or family member can be a difficult task. This tool was designed to assist you in making your personal care home decisions. These guidelines will provide you and your family members with a variety of resources to aid you in making your personal care home choice.

A personal care home is any dwelling that provides or arranges for the provision of housing, food service, and one or more personal services for two or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage. Personal services include but are not limited to individual assistance with self-administered medications and essential activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing and toileting.

A personal care home is not licensed to provide medical or nursing care, so persons requiring continuous medical or nursing services are generally not appropriate to live in a personal care home.

A physician will need to evaluate the potential resident to determine that a personal care home is an appropriate setting to meet the resident’s needs before the resident can be admitted.

When selecting a personal care home, there are several steps that can be taken to assure that you are making the best possible choice:

• Choose a home close to family and friends
• Visit the homes being considered
• Inspect them very closely
• Ask questions
• Get in writing any costs, additional charges, required deposits and rules

The future resident, family and friends should then consider the resident’s physical, emotional and financial needs and circumstances before making a final selection.

The Office of Regulatory Services (ORS) licenses personal care homes. The licensing requirements are minimum standards for items such as construction, staffing and diet. Personal care homes in Georgia should have a license issued by ORS. However, some are not licensed. If you are considering a personal care home for yourself or for someone else, you should make sure that the home is licensed so that ORS will be able to investigate any complaints against the home. You can search for a personal care home in your geographic area on this Web site by going to the ”Search for Care” application. You can also visit the ORS Web site at ors.dhr.georgia.gov where you will be able to see if the facility in question has the appropriate license.

ORS issues rules and regulations to establish standards for the licensing and operation of personal care homes. Contact the ORS Personal Care Home Program and/or Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program for additional information. See the last page for contact information.

After gathering information about the personal care home in your area, it is very important to make an appointment to visit the home and meet the administrator or manager. During your visit make sure you ask questions about their basic costs and services. At a later date, go back to the facility for an unannounced visit and closer inspection.

When visiting a facility, look for the following:

• Licensing: All facilities that provide personal care services are required to have a valid license or permit. The ORS permit and inspection reports should be displayed in a visible place on the premises. Ask to see the permit and inspection report. Is the license current? What is the home’s licensed capacity? How many residents does the home have?
• Safety: Make sure that stairways and hallways are well lighted and free of obstacles such as light cords, throw rugs, torn carpets and cracked tiles. Are there grab bars next to bathtubs, showers and toilets? Look for fire hazards, blocked fire doors and smoking restrictions that are ignored. Is there an adequate fire safety system that includes smoke and heat detectors? Is there a plan posted for quick evacuation in case of fire? Are the staff members and residents trained in fire safety?
• Cleanliness: Does the home smell of urine or heavy cover-up deodorant? Check out window sills, counters and table tops for dust and dirt. Kitchens and residents’ bathrooms must be clean.
• Meals: Are special diets available? Ask to see a copy of the planned menus.
• Medications: Who is responsible for initial acquisition and refilling of prescribed medications? Are medications stored under lock and key? Who supervises the medications?
• Pleasant Surroundings: Flowers, pictures, seasonal decorations and general orderliness are all important in providing a happy and comfortable atmosphere for a resident.
• Activities Program: Are there organized activities? What are they? Is there a regular schedule? What religious services are available? Regularly scheduled activities with participation encouraged by staff members can boost morale for residents.
• Morale: Do staff members have a positive attitude toward the residents? Indifferent or sullen staff members can destroy morale. Do residents appear to be happy, interested and involved in what is going on? Take a good look at how the residents act and how they are dressed.
• Privacy and Respect: Are residents afforded privacy and respect? Do staff members knock before entering a resident’s room? Do staff members address residents by their names? Watch and talk to the staff members to get an idea of their attitudes towards their jobs and towards the residents. Actions of staff members reflect how the management or administration feels about the residents.

Office of Regulatory Services
Department of Human Resources
Personal Care Home Program
2 Peachtree Street NW, 31st Floor
Atlanta, GA 30303-3167
(404) 657-4076
(404) 657-5726 (complaints)
(404) 657-5728 or
(800) 878-6442
dhr.state.ga.us

Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman
Department of Human Resources
2 Peachtree Street NW, 9th Floor
Atlanta, Ga 30303-3167
(888) 454-5826
georgiaombudsman.org

Legal Services Developer
Division of Aging Services
Department of Human Resources
2 Peachtree Street NW, 9th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30303-3167
(404) 657-5328
aging.dhr.georgia.gov

Office of Legal Services
Department of Human Resources
2 Peachtree Street NW, 29th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30303-3167
(404) 656-4421
dhr.state.ga.us

Senior Legal Hotline
(404) 657-9915
(888) 257-9519

It is very important to know that it is illegal for anyone to abuse a personal care home resident or to violate a resident’s civil or property rights. There are laws and regulations that specifically forbid this and provide for enforcement of residents’ rights. The following list of resident rights was developed by the State Bar of Georgia.

Personal Care Home residents have the right to:

• Exercise constitutional rights guaranteed to the citizens of this state and this country including, but not limited to, the right to vote
• Interact with members of the community both inside and outside the facility, and to participate fully in the life of the community
• Associate or communicate privately with persons or groups of his or her choice
• Share a room with a married spouse who is also a resident of the facility, unless separate rooms are requested
• Enjoy privacy in his or her room. Facility staff shall respect this right by knocking before entering a resident’s room
• Be treated with dignity and respect and be given privacy in the provision of personal care
• Practice religious beliefs as one chooses, and participate in social, religious and community activities that do not interfere with the rights of other residents. No religious belief or practice shall be imposed upon a resident
• Be free from mental, verbal, sexual and physical abuse, neglect and exploitation, humiliation, withholding of money, actual or threatened, physical or chemical restraint, isolation, corporal or unusual punishment, including interference with the daily functions of living, such as eating and sleeping
• Use, keep and control one’s own property and possessions in the immediate living quarters, except to the extent that a resident’s use of personal property would interfere with the safety or health of other residents
• Receive unopened mail on the day it is delivered to the facility. Outgoing mail shall also remain unopened
• Have access to a telephone and the right to have a private telephone (at the resident’s own expense). Telephones shall be placed in areas to insure privacy without denying accessibility
• Have immediate access by visitors who are visiting with the consent of the resident. Residents have the right to have visitors at mutually agreed upon hours. Once the hours are agreed upon, no prior notice is necessary. Each resident shall have the right to terminate any visit by any person who has access to the facility
• Manage one’s own financial affairs, including the right to keep and spend money, unless the resident has been adjudicated incompetent by a court of competency jurisdiction
• Have a personal need allowance in the amount of $5 per week. The allowance is not intended for purchase of necessities which the facility ordinarily supplies and does not relieve the facility of its obligation to insure that such necessary goods are available to the resident
• Receive or reject medical care, dental care or other services, except as required by law or regulations
• Choose and retain the services of a personal physician or any health care professional or service. To be free from interference by the facility in the resident’s diagnosis, treatment or prognosis. Each resident and/or representative or legal surrogate has the right to be fully informed about care or changes in care and to access all information in medical records
• Participate in the planning of his or her care
• Inspect his or her records on request
• Discharge or transfer upon notification to the facility in conformance with the facility’s policies and procedures (unless committed to facility by a court order or by representative with legal, written authority to admit, transfer or discharge)
• Contact the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. The facility shall post in a common area of the facility the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the ombudsman and the county inspector assigned to the facility
• Form a Resident Council and have meetings in the facility outside the presence of owners, management or staff members of the facility
• Receive a copy of the Resident’s Bill of Rights at the time of admission to the facility. In the event a resident is unable to read, the manager shall take special steps to assure communication of the contents of the Resident’s Bill of Rights to the resident
• Take steps to enforce his or her rights such as requesting a hearing before an administrative law judge in accordance with the provisions of the “Remedies for Residents of Personal Care Homes Act”

The rights of residents in personal care homes and the responsibilities of persons licensed to provide personal care are not limited to those set forth in this document.