Traditional nursing homes really DO suck

This has become my number one best seller, in my writing world anyway.  Maybe more people are waking up to the fact that at $1,500 a week for room and board, they are not getting what they pay for, at least their loved ones are not.

As long as the Medical Model is still practiced in traditional nursing homes, there is NO good quality of life for the people living there.  Living there is just another phrase for: being trapped there.  Yes, a traditional nursing home, touting the Medical Model will always, always, be run for the convenience of staff, and staff alone. 

 My son recently needed antibiotics, as I was reading the label, it started me thinking, again, about how staff dispense medicines in traditional nursing homes. Nowhere on my son's prescription did it state: Dispense however you please.  You can dispense in a group all at the same time, for staff convenience.  The label has specific instructions as to when and how the medicine should be taken.  The nursing home I once worked was willy-nilly about dispensing medicine at Every breakfast, to Every patient at the Same time daily.  This is not right, no matter how you slice it.  I once suggested maybe medicine cabinets in each room would be best.  I was told that anyone could then get the medicines.  Well there is a wonderful invention called a padlock to cure that.  Translation from nurses: "Well Then we'd actually Have to do our jobs properly and it might take time, effort and caring on our part."  You should not be surprised because given the human warehouses these places are, the let's herd old people like cattle, mentality of nursing homes, it makes sense.  To THEM anyway.

Another funny thing I noticed while working there, was the sole owner was older than dirt, himself.  For the most part he had Nothing nice to say about old people.  People who live in glass houses.  But since 'older than dirt owner' had money, HE didn't relate to those in his peer group.  Funny how that works.

This book Should be a good seller, especially to college Social Work classes because Social Work does not come from books.  Social Work comes from real life, real world experiences.  When I was about to graduate from college, many, many students said: "But college has Not taught me Everything I Need to know about this profession."  They were right, it cannot possibly teach you ALL you will need to know.  This book is a good teaching tool unless instructors are afraid the truths in this book will scare students.  It Should scare students because it should keep them on their toes.  It should teach them about human dignity.  It should teach them about old people being human too, not just cattle to herd and shuffle to activities, to showers resembling a car wash, to dispensing medicines all at once to everyone (contrary to label instructions), and to Stop bullshitting loved ones at care plan meetings.  Teach them that, while nurses Love to be head cheeses, they DO NOT know it all about your loved one.  YOU are That expert on that subject because you've known your loved one Longer than ANY staff.  Staff NEEDS to LEARN that nurse aids Should be invited to care plan meetings Because They Are the primary caregivers, NOT nurses who mostly push medications.  So I'm grateful this book has picked up with sales.  If Anyone Cares in our society, then the Truths in this book will be of concern to all. 

To those who have bought my book and read it, I thank you.  To those of you who have not, you Should as one day YOU Too will be old. 

Nursing Home Diaries

     
                              When life seemed so simple



Morning meeting went well, the Administrator laced out the maintenance assistant in front of a crowded room of coworkers.  We all felt that one, the look on the guy's face made us all cringe.  This Administrator is quite a shrew, she lit into him much more than was necessary.  Other days she has reamed out nurses and dining staff.  Ruling with an iron hand, she thinks if she puts fear in our hearts she has the upper hand.

I pick up my tablet, behavior sheets from nurses and aides and my pen after morning meeting, I can't seem to leave that room fast enough.  Back in the office I look over behavior sheets.  One says a resident, here for rehab and who is quite alert, complained about not getting taken to the bathroom fast enough.  I don't know how many times I tell nurses this is not a behavior, he has a right to complain about crappy service.  

We have to read these sheets every morning at meeting and when I got to the one concerning the lady who wants a room all to herself and freezing, then roasting her room mate out, the Administrator says: "Can't we send her someplace?"  Sure, I'll send her to live with you.  The lady wants a private room and she is acting bitchy to the room mate.  There is no cure for bitch.  The woman hates it here, I don't blame her one bit for that.  I do feel sorry for the room mate, but then, if nursing homes weren't so greedy, they would not have 2 people assigned to one small room.  Can we send the rich owner someplace? 

A fear of growing older

 The biggest fear most people have of living in a nursing home, other than having to be uprooted from their present home, is losing the important things that contribute to our quality of life. The basic day to day decisions we all take for granted living on our own in the community. 

 People also have a fear being placed out of sight when they go to a nursing home and no longer being a part of a community. Having and being able to make our own choices is what keeps our quality of life in tact and people have come to understand nursing homes usually mean adhering to their rules and having someone else make our decisions without consulting us, or worse yet, making decisions for us entirely. 

 Maybe nursing homes have improved a bit since the 1930’s when, before then, no elderly people were well taken care of in any programs. As late as the 1960’s I recall my parents talking about the ‘poor houses’ for older people and how it was a place to be avoided because apparently it meant people were destitute who had to go there and the treatment of older people in those dreaded places was awful.

Still to this day, many conventional nursing homes resemble large hospitals and for many elderly, seem more like a prison where rules abound, not like any home they have ever known. These places make elderly people feel they are now being punished for not having a lot of money to afford help in their own home, and they feel like they have committed the crime of daring to grow old, and worse yet, being punished for needing help in their daily lives.   

 The older nursing homes where people are housed two, or more to a room in order to make even more money for the owners, represent to residents not only being uprooted from their long time home, but now having to share a small space with a virtual stranger.  

People are not paired up in those facilities according to compatibility but paired up according to the space available and for the staffs’ convenience, especially if they have similar medical conditions. Homes that do pair more than one person to a room, all of them say they want people to bring furniture and personal belongings from home, yet do little or nothing to really encourage this in reality. 

 In other words, when entering one of those facilities, people now have to give up everything they owned, be uprooted from their homes and have the added insult of getting used to a new living environment and a room mate they may or may not like. The possibility of getting a room mate who has a TV or radio they want to blare late into the evening or having habits they find hard to deal with is very high.

It is safe to say that approximately 90% of people who enter a nursing home for therapy, did not ever plan to live there long term. Having lived in denial, as most of us do, it did not occur to them that it may be deemed as unsafe by the therapists for them to be able to live safely in their own homes anymore. This can be a big blow to many elderly, especially those who are used to being very independent, to now have to face the reality of living in a nursing home. With many hospitals discharging elderly patients early to nursing homes for therapy, it can be difficult to convince elderly patients to go to places for needed therapy. As one lady once said; “you tend to go to one of those places and never come back.’

Nursing homes have to absolutely change and change quickly and steadily begin moving towards a more home like atmosphere. I see no reason why the really good, caring facilities should only be a luxury for those elderly who can afford to pay out of pocket for the good treatment.

 Culture change and good treatment should and must be available to all residents in every nursing home in America, regardless of their pay source. Every elderly person has worked hard all of their life and all deserve to be treated with compassion and respect, regardless of their source of pay to the facility.

It is my belief that all nursing homes, for profit, not for profit, those of sole proprietorship and those owned by corporations, can move in the direction of culture change without losing money, and without having to tear down their existing buildings. It is also my belief that all people living in nursing homes are owed this change and deserve this change because it creates a home like atmosphere, not a hospital one, for people to live their lives in dignity. I believe every person is entitled to be treated as an individual and with respect.

Animals provide love for the elderly

Animals can help reduce loneliness, grief, fear and pain. St. Barley’s had a couple who lived there together for over ten years. After the wife died he started to regress and came out of his room less and less to intermingle. But I did notice that one of the few times he would come out and even have a faint smile on his face was when the animal visits took place.

Residents will, quite often, freely open up around animals because animals provide a safe avenue for communication. Animals do not judge us, do not talk back and are wonderful listeners and basically accept us for who we are.

Animals don’t care what kind of personal issues a person has, the animals live in the here and now. People will usually tell animals things they have never told any human being.

Taking care of an animal also takes a person’s mind off of their own problems, even if it is for a short while. A person caring for an animal must concentrate on caring for another living thing and attend to the animal’s immediate needs and, in turn, this can make a person feel needed, which raises self-esteem. This helps people focus their thoughts on something outside their own immediate problems and can give them a better perspective and help increase a person’s will to live.

Sometimes Administrators take a dim view of incorporating animals into the nursing home setting. Some fear other residents will have allergies or others will trip over animals and get hurt. They also fear residents will incur scratches or bites, but this is ridiculous because many elderly have animals in their private homes, some have several and for good reasons.

Animals help alleviate any loneliness the elderly may start to experience as they age. Animals make a place feel more like a home and much less like an institution and animals can help generate discussions whenever the elderly get together to chat.

Animal antics will usually always make residents laugh, or at least smile while watching them, this hold true for even the most cantankerous resident.

This doesn’t mean every family that tours a facility will like the idea of having animals living in the nursing home. That’s fine, and if it’s the case then maybe they are just too much into the idea of a facility as an institution or hospital.

But if every nursing home, or at least many more of them, adopted animals as part of the permanent setting, most families would just take for granted that the animals are an integral part of the nursing home setting. A nursing home that attracts animal lovers as staff is wonderful too because I tend to feel more at home with people who love animals. Those who love animals are more likely, in my experience, to also give loving care to people too. Where's the down side of that?

To help alleviate any burden placed on staff to care for animals, a facility could employ a high school or college student to come in each day to feed, water, empty litter boxes and maybe even transport an ailing animal to the local vet’s office. Maybe even volunteer groups would be able to just volunteer for this service as well.

But there are way more pros than cons to incorporating animals into a nursing home setting.