Nursing homes are often impersonal, sterile feeling and are the furthest thing from feeling like “home.” Instead, they are glorified hospital rooms with inflexible schedules, scheduled eating and activity times, and a rotating parade of staff members. For many of those needing to choose a facility that would provide them extra care, nursing homes really are the only choice.
Most of us don’t intend to spend the rest of our remaining lives wandering the sterile hallways of a hospital with the most entertaining event of the week being the weekly Bingo match. That type of life becomes depressing, and statistics state that almost 18-20 percent of those living in nursing homes will suffer from depression.
Ms. Davis, a former nursing home owner decided to change the way that nursing homes feel. She created a cluster of several homes that housed 10 residents inside each one. Each home had a spacious living room, a large backyard with patio, and an open kitchen and dining room area.
The results were positive, according to the article. The residents who resided there stated that they loved the opportunity to get to know their caretakers better. One resident stated that she loved the opportunity to visit more and even taught her caretaker how to cook. The statistics given were also positive. The residents experienced less bed sores, less depression and isolation according to the study. The article also stated that the residents had an opportunity to form wonderful relationships with each other.
No negative drawbacks were given. From personal experience as someone who worked in the medical field, as well as had a grandparent in a home like this I am aware of the drawbacks. Instead of feeling more social, many of the women squabbled with each other and grew isolated from each other.
The opportunities for activities was also limited. In a nursing home, at any given time a resident can choose from Wii bowling, listening to someone play the piano, watching a singing group come in and perform, play board games, or take an exercise class. Those types of opportunities were not available in a smaller setting and often the woman grew bored and ended up watching TV or reading most of the day with little opportunity to try new activities. Often, the women had a hard time agreeing on something they could all do together.
Nursing wise a registered nurse came in a couple of times a day to give medications. A certified nursing assistant was in the home to help with showering, dressing, and making of meals at all times. Besides the complaint about her coffee never being made right, my grandmother and the other residents of the facility often commented that the care was in fact the same that they would receive in a nursing home. Not only did the nursing assistant help care for the patients, but she also had the added burden of meals and laundry to tend to which left her little time for interacting with the residents and little time for holding activities for those living in the home.
So are these types of facilities worth investing in? I believe if you have a family who is interactive with the family member staying there, than yes. Much of the social burden fell on us as family. In order for grandma to get out of her normal element, it was up to us as the family to take over that responsibility. Shopping, driving to doctors appointments, taking her to church or taking her out to dinner or to attend family events all fell on us to do. With little interaction outside of the eight people and her caretaker she saw every day, isolation also became a problem.
Her physical needs at times were a problem as well. Depending on the staff that the facility hired, you might have a caretaker that was a bit more negligent than another. It took a lot of effort on the part of us as the family to ensure that incompetent nursing staff was terminated or their behaviors were changed. At times, nursing staff would choose to sit on their telephones instead of conversing with the residents. Since no one was their to oversee the nursing staff on a daily basis, staff easily became unmotivated.
In order for facilities such as this to thrive, ample social opportunities need to be given to the residents. Without them, residents can easily revert to a pattern of TV watching and “zoning’ out for hours on end. The minds of the residents need to be stimulated with different activities daily, and opportunities such as the types found at traditional nursing homes need to be given. Psychological home visits to these facilities should also be made to ensure that verbal and/or emotional abuse of residents is not happening and if residents are fighting that measures be taken to assist them.
Nursing homes on a smaller scale is a fantastic idea for those looking for a more intimate home like setting for their last years of life. But huge issues also arise from these smaller homes, and those need to be addressed too.
REFERENCES:
Tarkan, L. (2011, October 21) A Nursing Home Shrinks Until it Feels Like Home The New York Times Retreived from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/health/shrinking-the-nursing-home-until-it-feels-like-a-home.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=health