Nursing Homes & Hospices

Are Nursing Homes Wrong?

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A lot of people have a serious issue against the entire concept of putting their elderly loved one in a nursing home. And it begs the question that most people do not want to ask: are nursing homes, as an entire practice, an intrinsically negative or bad thing that our society allows of its people? This debate has reasonable arguments on either side of it. On the one side, some people would argue that the family of a person is the best group of people who could ever take care of them. And if all else fails, duty plus love equals a successful caretaking environment. But on the other hand, some other people would argue that in order for the care to be solid, the family actually has to care- and all too many either do not care enough, or simply do not have the means of caring sufficiently for a disabled elderly person.

Consider the notion that the family is best. Throughout history in cultures all over the world, old age has been venerated for its wisdom and strength to fight off death, as well as to survive the changes which take place in the world throughout a long lifetime. When a venerable elderly person needs help, their family should feel honored to take them in and give them the best possible care, as well as a leadership position in family matters.

Consider the notion that family often can not do what needs to be done. In all too many cases, the family is far too busy with their own affairs to be able to provide the sort of care that a disabled elderly person needs. And in some truly unfortunate cases, a family is too apathetic to the elderly family member’s needs to even render sufficient care. This is why nursing homes exist- not just to help those who do care, but to compensate for those who really could not care any less.

Filed Under: Nursing Homes & Hospices Tagged With: Elderly care, Family Support, Nursing home, Old age

Sometimes a Nursing Home is Best

When you decide on whether or not you want to care for your elderly family member in your own home, you might only be thinking from the point of view of your own desires. Keep in mind that unless they are completely demented, your elderly family member should still have a voice in the matter. And sometimes that voice will reasonably declare that a nursing home, for all of its negative connotations and scary nature, is the best ultimate path for everyone involved to take. Consider the fact that a lot of people are almost never home, and that your elderly family member might actually want to have some kind of kinship with other people who share in his or her type of plight.

Most every person in this world enjoys having other people around them, at least from time to time. Even the most introverted, socially awkward people tend to have some vein of wanting to be around others buried in there somewhere. And this intrinsic human need does not go away, even as one ages. As a matter of fact, having a small group of close, personal friends nearby can actually become even stronger as a person gets older. If those friends can more effectively spend time with the elder if their physical needs are being met by a professional staff, then a nursing home might very well be for the best.

Another occasion when a nursing home might be best is when an elderly person actually prefers the company of other elderly people to that of younger folks. Have you ever noticed that younger people tend to always be on the move, and almost never take the time to really notice the world we live in? After all, how could we, since we always have 10,000 things to do in our day? For an older person, this gap in life style can be enough of an irritation to not want to bother.

Filed Under: Nursing Homes & Hospices Tagged With: Family Support, Home care, Nursing home, Old age

What are Your Thoughts on Nursing Homes?

If you have an elderly loved one who will require a great deal of care, you have got a major decision on your hands. On the one hand, you will undoubtedly feel a lot of responsibility toward this person, who may very well have raised you. Will you take care of them in your own home for their remaining time in this world, even if that happens to be for a couple of decades? Or will you send them to a nursing home, which may feel terrible but ultimately be a better functional decision? This can be a truly agonizing, guilt inspiring choice for you to make. And while there is certainly a logical element about it, it will inspire emotions on both sides of the argument.

When most people think about nursing homes, the term “God’s waiting room” tends to come to mind. It can be a serious hang up for most people to consider putting someone they actually care about in what are often perceived to be smelly, inhumane places where the staff is indifferent (when there even is much of a staff), the administrators are dishonest (about what is actually going on all around them), and the people there would probably give anything that they ever had to get out and live their lives as independent people once again. Far too many bad nursing homes have stained the entire group of them with a foul stigma.

But on the other hand, how much better could you make things in your own home? Be honest here, and understand that while what your family does or does not do will certainly change if you take in your elderly family member, there will still be issues which are insurmountable. Also, there are also occasions in which an elderly person living amongst a group of very young people can be downright dangerous to their health. Small children often do not understand the perils of growing older.

Filed Under: Nursing Homes & Hospices Tagged With: God, Home care, Nursing home, Old age

The Decision to use a Hospice

A hospice is a sort of cross between a nursing home and a hospital, in which every patient is someone who is suffering from a terminal illness and does not have a very long time to live. When a family is making their decision about whether or not to have their loved one stay with them during their final year or so of life, a hospice may very well be a reasonable option to consider. While it does tend to be a little gloomy in the sense that most people who go in to such places do not come out alive, it can also be a much more kind option than keeping them in a nursing home. After all, there are occasions in which the family’s living situation does forbid them from keeping their loved one at home.

A hospice offers far more medical treatment options than most nursing homes do. After all, it does have a hospital element about it. Part of the positive qualities of a hospice is that it can actually prolong a life, in spite of the original prognosis, due to these more advanced treatment options. All too often, a nursing home can do little more than house the person and keep them comfortable, forcing an uncomfortable transportation process whenever any sort of treatment might be needed for their condition.

In this way, a hospice can also be far better than to attempt to take care of your elderly loved one in your own home. You most likely do not have the material resources to provide ample medical care in such an environment, and even trying to turn your home into a sort of de facto hospital setting could actually backfire, as you invest untold resources into what is ultimately a losing battle against the illness in question. At some point, you have to surrender the fight on the home front, and turn it over to the more experienced medical professionals.

Filed Under: Nursing Homes & Hospices Tagged With: Health care, Hospice, Hospital, Nursing home

The Staffing Situation

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Staffing is a very important part of any kind of a business. And nursing homes, whether we like to think about it or not, have got to be run in the same manner as any other business is run. Staffing is a vital metric for the management of a company to keep tabs on, because people are extremely expensive to employ. After all, every employee has more than just their salary costing the company money. They also have their training, their benefits, and the taxes which the employer contributes to Social Security on the employee’s behalf. So with every employee a nursing home takes on, they also take on an entire suite off additional expenses which have to come out of somewhere.

This is part of the reason why a nursing home stay is so expensive. It is also a major part of the reason why so many nursing homes all across the country are not staffed appropriately for the number of people they serve, and for the amount of work that needs to be done in order to properly maintain the premises. An unfortunate secret of many nursing homes is that they simply are not staffed to a sufficient extent. And no matter what you try to do about the problem, either by reporting it internally to their administration or through reporting it to external authorities, the situation is unlikely to change.

The sad fact of the matter is, the staffing situation is neither temporary nor an oversight. It is a conscious business decision, based upon the needs of the organization. Instead of launching a campaign to fight it, or allowing your loved one to wallow in a place that is simply not good enough for them, it might be best to take them to another home which is properly staffed. In time, the administration may decide that the business needs to hire more people, in order to keep those they serve staying there.

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Nursing Homes: a Major Warning Sign

If ever you are checking out nursing homes for when you can no longer care for your elders, there are plenty of things which you will need to watch out for. Obviously, visiting them on a day when they are not “gussied up” in expectation of families is the best time to check for anything that may be wrong with the way they care for their existing tenants. After all, how the nursing home treats the people who are already living there is the most likely way that they will end up treating the one you care for, if you decide to place them into that home. There is a major red flag which you will most likely never detect on a visitation day, but which says volumes about the nursing home itself.

This small detail is the ambient smell of the place. In most nursing homes, there are the occasional smells which develop as a result of spilled food or incontinence. However, in a properly staffed facility, these occasions are rare and aberrant, as opposed to being the standard operating procedure of the facility. However, in a home in which there is a smell which can only be compared to an out house, this is your first (and hopefully the last you require) sign that something is not right in this particular state.

When a nursing home has a bad smell about it, this is caused by the place being understaffed. In too many cases, the home is operating under a budget which is designed for profit above proper care. While there might be plenty of well paid administrators willing to dish out the party line when you ask questions, an issue of this nature will most likely never be truly addressed. The staffing situation that exists in there when you first show up at the nursing home is most likely going to be how the home is staffed, even several years later on.

Filed Under: Nursing Homes & Hospices Tagged With: Assisted living, Health, Nursing home, United States