Check Please – When It Comes to Assisted Living

By Rick Banas, Vice President of Strategic Marketing at BMA Management

Late last week, a woman in Florida was charged with attempting to run an unlicensed assisted living facility from her home.

Among the issues were care, cleanliness and food.

Residents were being inappropriately restrained.

A resident was found to have sustained bruises.

Insects were found crawling on countertops and in drawers in the kitchen.

Residents were being feed frozen dinners.

Hospice and physical therapy were not being allowed in to care for residents.

As the Florida Attorney General has noted about these types of situations, “our family members and loved ones deserve the best care available. Unlicensed facilities can pose a serious threat to the resident’s safety and well-being.”

If you are considering assisted living either for yourself or someone you know, I strongly encourage you to make sure that the assisted living community you are considering is appropriately licensed and/or certified.

Here in Illinois, you can check on assisted living communities through the Illinois Department of Public Health and on supportive living communities through the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. The distinction between assisted living and supportive living is that assisted living is designed for those who can pay privately and supportive living for those of all incomes, especially those who do not have the financial resources to afford private pay assisted living.

Through the licensure or certification process, representatives of these state agencies are checking to be certain that the communities are following state regulations, appropriately caring for residents, and are not providing more care then they are licensed to provide.

In the survey process for supportive living, for instance, representatives of Healthcare and Family Services visit the community to review all aspects of the operation. During the visit, they inspect the physical plant and conduct a review of nursing, ancillary services, maintenance and food service. They look at staffing ratios and the training and background of staff, interview residents and measure the community’s preparedness for a disaster.

When it comes to something as important as assisted living, don’t sacrifice safety and well-being by opting to live in a place that is not properly licensed or certified.


All affordable assisted living communities managed by BMA Management, Ltd. are certified and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. All assisted living communities are licensed and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“BMA Management, Ltd. is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”

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Gardant Management Solutions has 20+ years of industry-acclaimed operational history in developing, managing and consulting for senior living, assisted living and memory care communities.