Search Instructions

The following instructions are for Aging Safely's search tools to access our database of Adult Family Home (AFH)  information.

The search tools consist of several parts:

  1. AFH Search Criteria - This is the area that you enter the information about the location and capabilities you are looking for in an Adult Family Home. Select a City and Within Miles in the top two pull-downs and get a list all of the AFHs within a given distance, regardless of the city that they are physically located in. Refine you search by checking the check-boxes that match the client’s needs. The definitions for the check-boxes are provided below.
  2. Language Criteria - This pull-down allows you to select a single language that you are interested in having spoken at the Adult Family Home. Many homes speak several languages, while others speak only English.
  3. Selected Adult Family Homes - A list of AFHs that match the current search criteria. As your search criterion becomes more specific, the number of selected AFHs will decrease. The list starts out as a multi-page list of all of the homes and decreases as you add criteria. It may actually decrease to ZERO and say "Error - No Matching Results!" If this happens, re-check the selections that you have made. At the bottom of the list are links to other pages of the listing if your list of selected AFHs is larger than the number of Records per Page.

    The list of Selected Adult Family Homes list includes buttons Detail »   Web »   Map »  that will bring up, in a separate window or tab, the a page of details on the AFH, a map to the AFH and its web site with pictures of the AFH. The is also a Print Page    button that will bring up a window with just the current page of selected AFHs for printing. It is usually best if you print this page in landscape mode. Landscape mode is set in your browser's print dialog box. A green disk in the left hand column indicates that the AFH has a vacancy even if vacancy wasn't part of your search criteria.
  4. The Details Page of information about an individual AFH from Aging Safely's database of Adult Family Home information. The details page also has links to the Map to the AFH and its Web site. Since the Details Page appears in its own window or tab, the Back to List »   button just closes its window or tab.

 AFH Search Criteria and Details Page  Explanation:

  • AFH License: Washington State licenses AFH specialties: Mental Health, Dementia and Developmental Disabilities. RN / LPN Provider indicates that the AFH Provider is licensed in the State of Washington as an RN or LPN.  If a patient has a primary diagnosis of Mental Health, Dementia or Developmental Disabilities, then the AFH must have the corresponding license.
  • AFH Vacancy: Indicates that this AFH has a current vacancy for a Male or Female in a semi-private room, or has a vacant Private Room. Leaving all three of these vacancy boxes blank will produce a list of AFHs that meet your selection criteria regardless of the current vacancy status. Vacancy information is volatile and you may wish to contact AFHs to see if they have a vacancy regardless of the current status in our database.   Leaving all of the vacancy check-boxes blank causes the search to ignore vacancy information. You should only check one type of vacancy in this row!  An AFH provider may list both a Private Room vacancy and a Share-Room vacancy for a single vacancy. This can happen because residents may be interested in moving, or because the room is licensed for more than one bed.
  • Accepts Medicaid indicates that this AFH accepts Medicaid payment. Accepts Medicaid with Conditions indicates that this AFH may accept Medicaid under some conditions. If your loved one may go on Medicaid at some point, we suggest that you discuss Medicaid with the AFH provider and add any required conditions to the contract.  Providers are encouraged to include what these conditions are in the Notes field on the Details Page.
  • Hospice / End of Life  indicates that the AFH accepts residents that are currently in a hospice program. Since not all areas have formal hospice programs End of Life is also included.
  • Two Person Assist / Hoyer  - The cost and staffing of an AFH is effected by the care that is required by the residents. A resident that requires two people to assist them with transfers impacts staffing and not all AFHs are staffed for that level 24 hours per day. 
  • Insulin / Injections - Giving injections requires a RN or LPN on-site when the injection(s) are required. 
  • Awake Night Shift  - Some AFHs rely on call buttons and monitoring of residents during the night shift. Others has an Awake Night Shift that is doing food preparation, light housekeeping and other tasks at night in addition to caring for residents. If your loved one is up several times at night, they will need an AFH with an Awake Night Shift. 
  • Wanderers, Exit Seekers, and those that are Resistive to Care are potential residents that may not be appropriate for every AFH. 
  • Has House Doctor Available - In some major metropolitan areas there are groups of Primary Care Physicians that specialize in treating the elderly; these doctors will make house calls to Adult Family Homes for their patients and they usually accept payment from Medicare.

 

Details Page text blocks:

  • Also Experienced In: - This is a place for the AFH provider to list other areas of medical specialty that this AFH is especially experienced in addition to those skills from the search criteria.
  • Other Services:  - This is a place for the AFH provider to list services such as beautician, activities, etc. that provided by this AFH. Note to Providers: Aging Safely maintains a list of services that you might wish to view.
  • Notes: -This is a place to provide details of Medicaid conditions or any other items that a check-box can't address.

Notes to Providers Filling in the Data Form

  • On the form that you fill in for Aging Safely there are more fields than are listed here. In most cases they are self explanatory such as email address, cell phone etc. Some will be published and others are for Aging Safely's use.  A few require some explanation:
    • The AFHid will be provided by Aging Safely the first time. It must be provided for all updates. It can be seen for each home on the AFH Provider's My Homes page.
    • The AFH Lic. # is the license number that the state has given to this AFH. If you don’t know it we can look it up.
    • Web Site will be assigned by Aging Safely. Web Site2 is also used by Aging Safely for sites with existing internet domain names. If you have an existing web site that is not hosted at a competitor and wish us to point to that web site enter its URL in the Web Site block
    • On the Credential row: Cred No is the Washington State DOH number and any RN/LPN/CNA license listed. The 1st Year in business field is the year that you first started working the the Adult Family Home inductry.
    • Web Site will be assigned by Aging Safely. Web Site2 is also used by Aging Safely for sites with existing internet domain names.
    • Rows marked with ** must be filled in when faxing in updates to the information. These are our way of making sure that we update the correct site.
    • The AFH Provider is responsible for checking that the data that is displayed on this site is correct. The should verify that, original information and any updates or corrections were entered correctly.  Aging Safely will email the provider notifying them that updates have been entered so that they can check them online.

 
Copyright © 2008 Aging Safey, Inc.