Essay on As We Are Now

At West View Nursing Home, the idea of person-centered care is drilled into each new staff member’s brain at their first interview and orientation. It is the principle that guides all of the work here, no matter if you are a janitor, social worker, nurse, dietician, etc. Some examples of the general principles associated with this type of intervention and care are that the needs of the client have priority and social services exist to benefit him or her, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and not revoking people’s choice about their own behavior (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). No matter their health status or mental state, everyone is entitled to make their own decisions as much as possible, even if the social worker does not necessarily agree. The three main characteristics that a social worker demonstrated when utilizing the person-centered care theory are empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence/genuineness. He or she is expected to be objected and unbiased, come with experience to provide appropriate suggestions, and be able to accept that clients’ perspectives are true and best for them as a person (Walsh, 2014).

There were small sheets of paper in each resident’s room, saying what their favourite things are, what they used to do, about their family and life, which was very touching for me to see the preservation of dignity throughout the facility. Although these write-ups were in everyone’s room it was as if there was not a human laying in that bed. It was like they were all mannequins and there was an indiscernible race, the focus was shifted from the individual to the completion of task at hand. Many care aides would have conversations about their weekend, or talk about the resident right in front of them. Some residents could hear and some could not, never the less,

The Green House Project and Eden philosophy are the new and upcoming attitudes towards long-term care and assisted living facilities. This idea of the Green House model emphasizes a smaller and more intimate nursing home facility. This program will provide a new level of care for the elderly that don’t intend of living in a nursing home. The Eden philosophy ties in with the Green House Project because its approach is in changing the environment, culture, and caregiving in the nursing home experience. This is to “create a habitat for human beings rather than facilities for the frail and elderly” (Larsen, 2015). In my opinion, I think that these motives of living will change how the nursing homes facilitate care. The aspects towards these newly formed ideas of the Green House Project and the Eden philosophy are truly life changing in this attitude of living.

The article I read this week was written by Jonathan Jones. He explained the lack of care for seniors in elderly homes. One person who lived through the experience was George McAfee. George McAfee was a former player for the Chicago Bears. In the late 1990’s McAfee started showing symptoms for Dementia, a brain disorder marked by memory loss and impaired judgement. After his wife had passed away his family moved him to a facility specialized for Alzheimer's. At first, his daughters were satisfied with Cypress Court's level of care. However, it all changed when Emeritus purchased the facility. His daughters started to take note of the the lack cleanliness. Often times, McAfee daughters has noticed a difference in their father's appearance.

For the purpose of this essay, I will refer to the aforementioned placement as “Brampton Lodge” in order to maintain anonymity. During the first few weeks of my placement as I was finding my feet and settling in, I found myself at a loss as to what to do as there were only female service users present. Due to policies in place at Brampton Lodge, female service users could only receive personal care from female support workers. This was not much of a concern to me as it was necessary for me to remain mindful of the individual at question’s privacy, dignity and personal preferences. However, in the forthcoming weeks as male residents began to arrive, I found myself becoming more directly involved within their personal care.

The information contained in this report was gathered in a private nursing home over 2 weeks that for the sake of this essay, be called “facility x”

Both of the gentlemen stated they had been in other homes and that this was the nicest home they had been in. Kenneth complained of his first home ¡°smelling more like a zoo than a nursing home.¡± John told me that his last home was on the South Side and that the neighborhood was filled with gang bangers and hoodlums. When his family visits here though, they wheel him through the Lincoln Park neighborhoods and it¡¯s nice. For all of the questions that I asked these two men, they had just as many questions for me. Heading in to this assignment, I hadn¡¯t really considered that someone would be asking ME questions. In the midst of all that happens in nursing homes, it¡¯s important to remember that these residents aren¡¯t just dependent, older people, but that they are still people just like you and I.

It states the difficulties in the senior homes with little staff and the many complaints received. The complaints are said to be hard to distinguish between serious complaints or just small problems. An example was given like Nancy Hardman who stated that she is removing her mother from the nursing home because it is dangerous and unhealthy to live in.

“There is some evidence that the quality of care for nursing home residents has improved, such as the decreased use of physical restraints and psychotropic medications, serious problems continue for many residents, especially those at the end of their lives.” Some of the issues have been corrected, not abusing or neglecting the elderly patients but the services are not handling the most important part of the patients’ lives. They are still having some issues with handling the patients that are at the end of their lives, they need to focus on the end of their lives in dealing with this they need to know how deal with this part with them and the families.

Regarding this chapter 14 assignment, adults placed in assisted or nursing homes usually fit in the category of Erikson's final stage of ego integrity vs despair. changes that can occur in skilled nursing, intermediate care, home health services, respite care, CCRC, greenhouse model, and aging in place are elder speak, communication predicament model, attraction effect, life story, widowhood, empty nest, developmental schism, resource model. They begin to face issues such as androgenetic alopecia, sarcopenia, immune senescence, neuronal fallout, age-related macular degeneration, presbyopia, cataracts, glaucoma, presbycusis, shrinkage of olfactory receptors, etc.

On a macro level, the nursing home social worker can lobby to change a health care law, advocate for large scale social policy change and organize a state-wide activist group that focuses on reframing society’s stigma towards aging. On a mezzo level, a social worker can help older people links to community programs, or private programs that provides meals, health care homemaker services or transportation to and from the nursing home. Social workers can also help sort out any problems in the delivery of these services. On a micro level, social workers can help find individualize solutions for older adults and families that address the personal, social and environmental challenges that come with aging. As a future social worker, I am thrilled for this opportunity and cannot wait to see if this will strength my interest to work with geriatric

Her research on gerontological social workers and the factors relating to interest in the field is extremely relevant to my research. The population explosion of 65+ seniors is upon us and social work leaders are bracing themselves. The projection for a shortage in this field is already well documented. The shortage is not only due to the demographic of the increasing totals of aging seniors but also to current social workers that are themselves retiring. Graduates with master’s degrees in social work rank interest in aging fifth behind mental health, child welfare, and health and family services. A contributing factor is ageism itself. Negative feelings and stereotypes attached to working with older people are reinforced through the media. Several components are examined in this study to include attitude, experience, and knowledge in order to have a better understanding of how to recruit social workers into this specialized field. The characteristics of the gerontology

The study was conducted at a state acclaimed, clean and cheerful nursing home environment in Connecticut, USA. Two of the four floors were selected with two groups in the study. The resident participants were similar in physical, mental, psychological health and social status. Residents in one floor or group one were assigned to the experimental group while the other residents in another floor served as the

The way the future is heading seems to be very clear but as before things may

Introductions of new ideas into different cultures happens all the time. Some examples are in Africa people trying to introduce new technologies to the people there to improve the lives of the people there. Another example is how the McDonalds company is sprouting new franchises in countries all over the world. The idea of new technologies being introduced to people who need them is a wonderful idea, although the idea of a new restaurants may not be. In this paper I will discuss how the introduction of new ideas into other parts of the world is not for the good of all. This new “thing” can change the cultures of the people who live there, the way they lived may be drastically altered or disrupted. What ultimately should be done, is a