"I never thought for a minute that you could help me find a home so quickly for my mother who has dementia. The assisted home refused to accept her back and she had no where else to go. I had three days to find her a place and within an hour Connections gave me a comprehensive list of homes to visit." - Valerie
"Finding the right place for your parents isn't that easy if it's not going to be with you. Connections asked the right questions and within an hour they came back with not a long list of homes, but with the ones they felt would be suitable for my parents needs and their lifestyle." - Vicki
Questions about care homes?
We have the Answers.

Looking for the right care home placement for a loved one may seem like an overwhelming and daunting task.


Like most discriminating consumers you want to make sure you have all the information at your fingertips to make the right decisions. Tapping into expert advice from care professionals who specialize in the arena of care home placement can save you time, money and peace of mind.

Since 1990, Connections Referral Service, Inc. has helped thousands of families find quality care homes in Southern California and we can help you too.

We provide information and/or referral at
no cost to the consumer to retirement homes, assisted living homes, board and care, skilled nursing facilities (also called skilled nursing homes or convalescent hospitals) life care (also called continuing care) and Alzheimer's homes.

We personally visit and evaluate each retirement and care home we recommend based on atmosphere, quality and level of care, staffing, experience of administrator and more. We only recommend quality homes we feel to be appropriate based on the senior's wants and care needs.

We maintain a comprehensive database of each home we visit, the current prices, number of clients we have placed in each home and the overall satisfaction level of the families whose relatives we have placed in the care facility (by follow up calls). Before making any referral we find out availability, price based on care needs, and the mental acuity of the current residents (for example: how many are alert vs. those that have dementia or Alzheimer's).

We are very particular about the homes we recommend. From the 1000's of care homes we have seen and evaluated we only recommend the homes we feel to be the best.

We're free, friendly and experts in our field. Why not give us a try? Call us and see how our services can help you in your search for the right care home.

>>Skilled nursing vs. custodial care

>>Definitions of different types of care homes

>>Questions to ask when looking at any care setting

>>Articles about Olmstead and medi-cal funding for assisted living settings

>>Take the 2007 Olmstead Now Pledge

>>Testimonials about our services

Skilled Nursing vs. Custodial Care (Assisted Living, Board and Care, etc. )

Know your care home options

Knowing your care home options begins with understanding the difference between custodial vs. skilled nursing care. The difference is critical because many patients end up unnecessarily in skilled nursing settings.

What is custodial care?

Some examples of custodial care would include help with dressing, bathing, help out of bed, help to the bathroom, incontinence, and assistance for patients with wheelchairs and/or dementia. Alzheimer's patients who have a tendancy to wander usually have only custodial care needs.

What is skilled nursing care?

Some examples of skilled nursing care would be assistance with an i.v. g-tube, tracheotomy, open wound, ventilator; care usually provided by trained skilled nursing staff including registered nurses (RNs), certified nursing assistants (CNAs), or licensed vocational nurses (LVNs).

Is a skilled nursing home the right setting?

The California Little Hoover Commission has estimated at least 30% of all SNF patients have only custodial care needs. It may be that most SNF residents have only custodial care needs since most do not have g-tubes, i.v.'s, tracheotomies, ventilators, etc. Reasons why patients with custodial care needs end up in SNFs vary. Primary reasons may include:  

1) most consumers are not familiar with alternative care settings for patients with 24-hour custodial care needs,

2) the assumption that nursing homes (since they have nurses) always provide the highest level of care despite the fact that many community based care settings (see below) have higher staff to resident ratios,

3) many are low-income and medi-cal does not pay for any other care setting (read a bit about our 2007 Olmstead Now Campaign: our grassroots efforts to change the medi-cal law in California to permit it to pay for assisted living settings).

What alternative settings exist for patients with custodial care needs

Alternative settings include larger assisted living (sometimes referred to as retirement homes) or small residential board and care homes (also referred to as residential care facilities for the elderly or RCFEs). In the case of RCFEs, small family homes with 4-6 residents, staffing levels (1 staff to 2-3 residents) far exceed that found in skilled nursing settings (usually 1 direct care staff to 17 patients). While it is true that nursing homes may provide a higher level of medical care for patients with skilled nursing needs, patients without skilled nursing needs tend to do better receiving care in home-like settings that have high staffing levels. Read here for more in depth information about the different types of care homes.

Read here for more information about our services.

Some additional information:

Additional information:

The Department of Health Services licenses and certifies all skilled nursing facilities (also called skilled nursing homes or convalescent hospitals) see below. (They do not provide referrals, reviews or ratings of skilled nursing homes, retirement homes, assisted living, board and care and alzheimers homes).  See our links for useful resources.

The Department of Social Services licenses and certifies all retirement homes, board and care, assisted living, alzheimer's homes, or residential care facilities.

LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH COUNTY DISTRICTS

In Los Angeles County, the five districts for the Health Facilities Division are as follows:

CENTRAL DISTRICT

NORTH DISTRICT

WEST DISTRICT

SAN GABRIEL DISTRICT

EAST DISTRICT

CENTRAL DISTRICT

Eagle Rock

Highland Park

Glendale

Pasadena

South Pasadena

Lincoln Heights

East Los Angeles

Los Angeles

NORTH DISTRICT

Antelope Valley

Burbank

Calabasas

Canoga Park

Chatsworth

West Valley

Encino

Glendale

Granada Hills

La Cañada

La Crescenta

Lakeview Terrace

Lancaster

Mission Hills

Montrose

Newhall

North Hollywood

Northridge

Pacoima

Panorama City

Palmdale

Quartz Hill

Reseda

Saugus

San Fernando

Sepulveda

Sherman Oaks

Studio City

Sunland

Sun Valley

Sylmar

Tarzana

Toluca Lake

Topanga

Van Nuys

Verdugo City

Verdugo Hills

West Lake Village

West Valley

Woodland Hills

Tujunga

Valencia

Los Angeles

WEST DISTRICT

South Bay

Baldwin Hills

Bel Air

Beverly Hills

Carson

Culver City

Dominguez

El Segundo

Exposition Park

Gardena

Harbor City

Hawthorne

Hollywood (L.A. Metro Area)

Lomita

Malibu

Marina del Rey

Pacific Palisades

Palos Verdes

Redondo Beach

San Pedro

Santa Monica

South District

Southwest District

Torrance

Venice

Vernon

West L.A.

Wilmington

Playa del Rey

Westwood

West Hollywood

Los Angeles

SAN GABRIEL DISTRICT

Arcadia

Altadena

Azusa

Baldwin Park

Claremont

Commerce

Covina

Diamond Bar

Duarte

El Monte

Glendora

Hacienda Heights

La Mirada

La Puente

La Verne

Monrovia

Monterey Park

Industry

Pasadena

Pomona

Rosemead

San Dimas

San Gabriel

Sierra Madre

South El Monte

Temple City

Walnut

West Covina

Los Angeles

EAST DISTRICT

Artesia

Bell

Bellflower

Bell Gardens

Cerritos

Compton

Downey

Hawaiian Gardens

Huntington Park

Lakewood

La Mirada

Long Beach

Los Angeles

Lynwood

Maywood

Montebello

Norwalk

Paramount

Pico Rivera

Santa Fe Springs

Signal Hills

South Gate

Whittier

Watts

ORANGE COUNTY (NORTH)

Anaheim

Brea

Buena Park

Costa Mesa

Cypress

Fullerton

Garden Grove

Fountain Valley

Huntington Beach

La Habra

Los Alamitos

Midway City

Orange

Placentia

Santa Ana

Seal Beach

Stanton

Tustin

Villa Park

Westminster

ORANGE COUNTY (SOUTH)

Dana Point

Irvine

Laguna Beach

Laguna Hills

Laguna Niguel

Laguna Woods

Lake Forest

Mission Viejo

Newport Beach

R. Santa Margarita

San Clemente

San Juan Capistrano

VENTURA COUNTY

Camarillo

Fillmore

Moorpark

Newbury Park

Oak View

Ojai

Oxnard

Piru

Point Mugu

Port Hueneme

Santa Paula

Simi Valley

Somis

Thousand Oaks

Ventura

Westlake Village




"The Connections team really helped me in finding the perfect place for my mother.  While other companies just give you a name and address, the Connections Team actually prescreen their homes saving me a lot of time.  They even helped me negotiate a price. I highly recommend The Connections Network." - Sonyaa
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