- Home
- About Us
- Better Care
- Our Book
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Before Your Mother Enters The Nursing Home
- Chapter 2: The First Day
- Chapter 3: Your Mother's Room and Her Property
- Chapter 4: Making the Most of Visits
- Chapter 5: What Should Happen in the First Weeks
- Chapter 6: Planning Your Mother's Care
- Chapter 7: The Care Plan Conference
- Chapter 8: Working With a Hospice
- Chapter 9: Activities
- Chapter 10: Paying For Nursing Home Care
- Chapter 11: If the Nursing Home Wants to Discharge Your Mother
- Chapter 12: Dealing With Problems Yourself
- Chapter 13: Getting Help With Problems
- Fact Sheets
- Minimum Staffing
- Our Book
- Family Councils
- What is a Family Council?
- Why are Family Councils Important?
- Benefits of a Family Council
- What Do Family Councils Do?
- The Rights of Family Councils
- How to Start a Family Council
- Why Smart Nursing Homes Want Family Councils
- Tips to Nursing Home Staff for Starting a Family Council
- Where Can I Find a Family Council?
- Resources for Your Family Council
- Looking for a Nursing Home
- Getting Help
- Advocacy
- Support Us
- Contact Us
ICBC
ICBC does not recommend particular nursing homes, but we can help you through the process of making a decision. We don't get any funding from nursing homes, so you don't have to be concerned that we will steer you to places that pay us for referrals.
ICBC has a unique nursing home database we use to help people who need help finding a nursing home. The database includes information about whether each nursing home accepts people directly on Medicaid (or requires some period of private pay,) or has a waiting list. It tracks services each nursing home provides (for example, ventilator care, dialysis, specialized Alzheimer’s/dementia care.) It also has a wealth of information about issues that matter to people, even if they haven’t thought about them as they are making their search. So we have information about religious services, about the smoking policy, about what kind of access residents have to telephones and wi-fi, about what possessions a resident can bring, if there is locked storage in residents’ rooms, if residents can bring pets or have pets visit. If you need help finding a nursing home, or narrowing down your choices, you can call us at 312-663-5120.
In addition to helping people who are looking for a nursing home, we can help you consider alternatives to nursing home care, including whether, if someone does need nursing home care now, that care can be short-term rather than permanent. And if you you are having trouble getting good care for somebody, you can call us for help. As we describe elsewhere on this website, we can help you start a family council, work with an existing family council to make it stronger, and do various kinds of community education programs on issues related to long-term care.