• Subject: Nursing Homes 1999 - Michigan
• Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 12:19:02 EST
• From: LSDCD@aol.com

I wrote an abuttal to your Nursing Home Myths & Realities over two years ago. (See a caregiver's comments on Myths & Realities).

Following are my new comments:

• I am very sad to report that N-O-T-H-I-N-G has changed. The regulatory and watchdog services must all be busy blowing hot air into the 'balloon' they all float around in.
  
• The bureaucracy and politics of this country have made it nearly impossible to do more than make empty promises and generally ignore reality.
  
• In all arenas they seem adrift and unfocused.
  
• In the Long-term Care facility the typical resident is truly one of America's most forgotten. Pompous politicians make promises, but have no idea why they are making them and what 'promise' means. Most of them have not had their senses assaulted by even entering (unannounced) a facility which houses our elderly 'inmates' of Long-term Care facilities.
  
• There is nothing I can say that is 'good' or positive about this situation.
  
• People in long-term facilities (and let's not use the word CARE here, since it doesn't apply) do not receive appropriate or needed treatment.
  
• Residents have diets that are full of empty calories, inappropriate, cold food and most importantly these people are not observed to see if they are 'actually eating the food placed in front of them'! Sandwiches are served with dried out bread and no butter, margarine, mayo., etc. The lunchmeat is of the poorest quality. Cooks are left to design their own food 'style'. So if the cook likes 'ethnic' style cooking, spices or salty food, that's what the populace receives.
  
• Most residents, suffering from dementia and other related illnesses, are not able to take care of their own simple dining requirements. They leave the table before they have eaten any food or push the food away. Those that need 'special' utensils rarely receive them. If they do those utensils get 'lost' in the kitchen. Sometimes they are 'found' weeks later. There is hardly ever 'anyone' observing these conditions. Harried aides do not notice if residents eat or what they eat with, and they certainly don't have time to feed them.
  
• Medications are not given promptly or properly. They are not reordered or reordered in a timely fashion. Doctors do not spend any real time with the 'real' person, instead substituting a quick 'chart' check-up.
  
• Residents suffer from a myriad of problems, which could be prevented. Falls, bedsores, terrible dental problems, unkempt fingernails and toenails. I see people in ragged, torn and inappropriate (to the climate) clothing. I see people sitting by the doorway to facilities in sub-zero temperatures or with beds shoved up against window sills where freezing drafts blow in on the resident.
  
• I walk by rooms where residents are crying, retching and choking. They are ignored. There are not enough caregivers to respond and many of those caregivers are hollow shells burned out by the daily frustration of only being one person trying to care for far too many needy people.
  
• My mother's condition stays the same. Physically she will (unless there is a miracle) never improve to the point where she will be able to walk or even sit up. Mentally she is alert and must daily endure what passes for care.
  
• Being able to ask for help means nothing. Actually it brings angry retorts from those who would prefer to deal with those who 'forget' incidents and are unable to express their needs.
  
• Grooming in marginal. Woe to the person that does not have a 'full-time' family member to advocate for them and to actually do the work!
  
• There is little or no socialization for the bed confined. There is little for those who are mobile and it is also poorly organized due to staffing conflicts.
  
• Food is so inadequate that the conditions of residents are exacerbated rather than improved!
  
• Almost all residents are diapered, even those who could use the toilet if they receive help.
  
• Families give up jobs and 'normal' life styles to drive long distances (often daily) to take care of their loved ones. They sacrifice their own health, their own happiness and their finances to supply some decent form of care giving. Families often do the work of the aides. This is 'unpaid' help that actually serves the very people that are supposed to be providing care!
  
• If you do not provide laundry services for your loved one, their clothing will go to a common laundry process where (regardless of fabric type) the clothes will be intermixed with soiled diapers and bedding to come out in a dingy, smelly and generally irreparable state. That is, of course, IF the clothing come back at all. Even though clothing is 'marked' with a residents name there is no assurance of this. If the clothing that is provided is too 'special' the likelihood is that it will never again be seen in the facility.
  
• Bedding and bed gowns are marginal. They usually have the name of various other institutions printed on their margins. These are whatever the resident was wearing as a hospital gown when they arrived at the facility. One of my mother's roommates went without a pillow because the facility could not provide one. "Didn't have any" they said. Finally she had a stroke of good fortune when the hospital that some poor resident was sent to 'forgot' to remove their pillow and it became the property of the facility.
  
• There's a report on the state of Nursing Home care as 1999 gets under way.

If this Senior Site can do anything to bring this huge problem closer to public awareness I hope you do it.

From LSDCD@aol.com