Nursing homes

It is shameful the way the elderly are “cared for” in nursing homes. And it’s a curse on us because we’re not respecting our elders.
The way things are done is so wrong it needs a complete overhaul.
People should be able to keep aging friends and relatives at home with more support to assist with activities of daily living.
Studies have shown children have a better outcome when a grandparent is involved in their lives. Most people pass away 3 months after living in the nursing home. People have better health outcomes when families are involved.
Nursing homes should resemble less a prison and more a home. They should not smell of feces and urine.
People should not die there of abuse when there is family members that love them.
Having a grandparent around is a tremendous benefit! They know how to live. They can teach us so much if we will just take the time to listen.

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This is so true! We moved my grandmother into our home after a bad experience in the nursing home. She lived with us till she was 97. My guess is she wouldn’t have made it as long in the nursing home. She was not happy there! Many times she told us they didn’t provide her meals. It was difficult on my mom to be a 24/7 caretaker. It would have been nice if she could’ve had an aid at least 3 days a week to give my mom some time off! Also, my mom should’ve been compensated for her care, because insurance wasn’t having to pay for assisted living. Insurance paid some and the rest was paid by my Grandma’s estate. This steals generational wealth! My grandparents worked hard and saved and saved, only to have all their money taken to pay for care in assisted living. It didn’t make sense to pay that price for inferior care. We should respect our seniors enough to keep them living in a multi-generational environment.

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Yes, the system is so broken. I have attempted to get paid by Medicare to care for someone, and the red tape, the paperwork, and the woman who ran the program in the client’s area was hostile about doing it, dragged her feet, and eventually discouraged the client enough to give up and do without.

I just don’t think that this is the way we should treat those who raised us and taught us what we know.

Oh, and he was a veteran. Isn’t that a shame.

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$50 a month so live on.
That is literally what we get in nursing care.

The social security we spent into all of our working lives, in case something went wrong, is handed over to the facility - which I agree with, but the decision to allow only $50 a month left to the resident… is insane.

That is MO, KS was $62 I think, but they all have similar amounts.

The quality of care is a nightmare. They can have 2 aides tending to 40 of us at once, and when we have to wait 2+ hours to get an emergency light answered, that’s just unavoidable.

I’ve been found not breathing and unresponsive, because the PA by some miracle picked that morning to come see me (first time in over a year) and found me that way, did CPR until medics arrived and got a tube in so I could breath.
Because I had struggling to get breath the night of, and they weren’t answering my light. I closed my eyes to focus on getting air, and when I opened them, they had come in and turned off the light and left without saying anything.

So I had to start the wait again, and woke up 3 days later in the hospital, with permanent damage to motor function and reduced brain function… because they don’t keep enough people on staff to keep up.

I’ve learned to take all sorts of precautions, and to take full advantage when they do show up, to enure everything is done at once.
But the inability to connect to the world other than their provided 200kb wifi…

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Nursing homes shouldn’t be charging residents thousands of dollars a month and getting bottom of the barrel care for them most nursing homes don’t pay their monthly bills as it is company I worked for (17years) always complained about nursing homes not paying their bill

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I would like to see a lot of changes in the elder care industry.

Better pay for caregivers, an end to the old ways of caring for the elderly, increasing staffing in facilities so that patients can adequately be taken care of, ect.

I agree that it is shameful how our elderly are taken care of. I would like to see programs where children and the elderly spend time together. There are so many benefits of this for both the young and the old.

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If you think that is how all nursing homes are im sorry you had such horrible experiences with them. My wife and I are Nursing Assistants, and we have both had the privilege to care for thes people nearing the end of their lives. I have always done my job with the highest level of respect and compassion. I cared for my residents like i was caring for my family. To say that its a prison is harsh. Nursing homes do everything they can to make it “Like Home” as possible. They have activities for the residents to help with social interaction, and the staff work vary hard to do everything that the residents need to maintain their level of activity. It is also very difficult to contain odors in a specific area. Im sure you yourself have tainted the air in your home after flushing the toilet. It comes with the territory. These people aren’t able to take care of their own urin or feces, we have to do that for them. Although its not the most glamorous job, most people in the field love their job. Im not saying there isnt a nursing home that needs to be shut down, there are corrupt places and they need to be dealt with. But most nursing homes do their best to maintain dignity and as much of a normal “At Home” style life as possible. Also part of the reasons we have nursing homes is because families dont always have the time, training, money, or equipment to safely and adequately care for their loved ones at home. I hope by reading this your able to see things from a different perspective and cut caregivers some slack in this aspect Although i understand where you’re coming from, i also know from first hand experience that its not completely 100% the way you see it.

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100% Agree, this needs to be a priority. It’s inexcusable how our country treats our elders. The private care places are eating up life’s savings, and completely unaffordable to those who couldn’t save hundreds of thousands of dollars. The publicly funded places are not giving our elders life for their last years here. My Mum didn’t even have space for any of her things from home. A hospital bed, a chair crammed into a corner and a side table. They don’t take them outside as they are all short staffed. Those who work are overworked and exhausted. The food is atrocious and inflammatory. They toss drugs at them constantly, without watching for side effects. Then when a side effect happens, they say oh it’s because they’re old. It has become terrifying to get old in our country. The entire system needs a major overhaul and mindset change to remember we are caring for people in their last days of life, not caring for them while they die.

I agree 100%. I’ve worked in several nursing homes in PA for the last 2 years and I call them current death camps because that’s what they are. They feed them cold, crap food. Pump them full of medications, don’t let them get outside and don’t let them move much (especially the ones who could!). There’s always a staffing shortage and these people are spending the last parts of their lives in misery. It’s AWFUL!!!

Agree with both sides. Some nursing homes are beautiful and take excellent care of the residents. In high school I worked in the kitchen of a high end nursing home. Everything was spotless. We even had to flip the food carts upside down and scrub the wheels at the end of the night. But these facilities are often very costly and largely limit the clientele to people who can pay for it, and not Medicaid.
The lower economic clientele are often left with less than ideal facilities. As a bedside nurse, nothing enrages me more than an elderly person coming to the hospital from a nursing home with contracted limbs and Stage 3-4 bed sores.
And as a person caring for and elderly parent, I spend a lot each month in meal prep for them, and much of my spare time taking care of them. Plus I work 40+ hours a week. These activities should be a tax break at the very least.

YES!!! why is this not getting more attention. We have always been told to respect our elders. Lets help the nursing homes by 1st not having to operate in the red and be able to hire more staff to better care for our beloved seniors!

All nursing schools should have an incentive to establish partnerships with nursing homes to provide clinical rotations focused on elderly care. These partnerships would ensure nursing students gain hands-on experience while assisting in meeting the care needs of older adults. Requiring students to complete one or two semesters dedicated to elderly care as part of their training would not only set a higher standard of care but also foster respect and compassion for seniors.

Promote Co-Housing and Assisted Living Communities by encouraging the development of innovative housing solutions that balance independence with access to necessary care, offering seniors a sense of community and support.

Expand Affordable Senior Housing by increasing the availability of affordable housing options tailored to seniors, ensuring they have access to safe, comfortable living arrangements that meet their needs.