Recommended personal items for a skilled resident care stay at Pacific Care Center enhance a resident’s comfort and personal hygiene. In general, the items that we recommend residents bring with them include personal clothing for indoor use, outdoor use, and for night time comfort. We also recommend residents bring their own personal hygiene and living assistance devices if needed (electric shavers, hearing aids, toothbrush, comb and brush, etc.).
We recommend that our residents bring these personal items for several reasons – personal items bring comfort, our residents already have their own preferred items, and it helps reduce overhead from care taking.
The most important reason we recommend that our residents bring their own personal items is because it brings them comfort. Clinical sterility often feels cold, and even the best hotel does not feel like home. When your loved one has his or her own clothes, own bedding, and favorite slippers, it creates a sense of belonging and familiarity. This is the main reason for many of the items we recommend our residents bring with them on their stay.
A secondary motivation we have for many of the personal items on the list is one of simple convenience. Some items, like hearing aids and denture cleaners, are chosen by our residents in conjunction with their healthcare team. Other items, like deodorant, are personal to our resident and chosen with their own skin and body needs in mind. If it’s not broke, we won’t fix it, and many of the items we ask people to bring are items that work specifically for our residents’ tastes. So, bring them!
Finally, many of these items, because of the unique needs and comfort levels of our residents discussed above, are not available in a standardized format. If we were to provide all the options through Pacific Care Center, the costs would be too high.
Also, there are several items we ask that family leave at home. We ask that families leave at home any items that cause too much clutter, aerosolized sprays, any medications, and objects that are marked dangerous for children.
The full list of personal items to bring is available on our Admission page. So, feel free to bring your loved one’s favorite sweater, and create a sense of home!