Assisted Living Community : Betty Jo

Dolores has checked out her adult son from a court ordered mental health facility from beating his ex-wife lover almost to death in their home. Pat Jr., a young adult, was diagnosed with bipolar behavior and has been currently seeing a psychologist. Pat Sr. was not included in this decision Dolores made, which has made him feel excluded from any decision making process. Dolores has always been the one to be compassionate and supportive with both her son and husband’s behavior issues. Dolores appears to be the glue that holds the family together.

Ingrid is a social worker, wife, and a mother who lives in a two story colonial home with her husband and two daughters, aged 8 and 15 years old. She was active in the school of her children, serving on committees and volunteering to read in the classroom. She attended to church habitually, though her husband did not accompany her. Her interests included swimming, snorkeling, and hiking. Not only was she close to her immediate family, but also maintained frequent contact with her college friends living throughout the country. As well, Ingrid requires moderate assistance with most of her basic activities of daily living (BADL).

The Smith family is an African American family currently residing in Bartlett, TN. The family owns a home in an established, middle class neighborhood. The Smith’s home is clean, updated and organized. John and Jane Smith, 48 and 45 respectively, live in the home with their 18 year old son, Junior. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are college graduates and have been financially preparing for their son’s matriculation to college. Mr. Smith was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in the fall of 2015. Mr. Smith has recently been terminated from his job, leaving Mrs. Smith as the sole wage earner. Mrs. Smith is suffering from acute anxiety and is experiencing panic

Frank calls his daughter on his cell phone stating that his wife gets upset when she sees phone numbers from his children on the landline caller ID. Frank is an 81-year-old widower who remarried 12 years ago. In the sixth year of marriage, Frank needed open-heart and bypass surgery, was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, peripheral neuropathy, and has pain that is difficult to manage. During this time, Frank’s personality changed insidiously from a lively conversationalist with many interests, to a somewhat solemn recluse with limited direct contact with his children and friends. Was this due to his change in health or due to the change in the dynamic of his marriage from husband and wife to elder patient and caregiver? Frank’s daughter is extremely upset by this phone call. Frank makes excuses for his wife’s behaviour, such as, “She is cranky because she doesn’t eat breakfast” or “I’m such a burden.” The daughter realizes that immediate action needs to be taken before the situation gets worse.

R/s Ms. June Jones is diagnosed with schizophrenia (paranoid type). R/s Ms. Jones has no electricity in her home and has been out since April. R/s it was reported that Ms. Jones receives social security but that’s not enough to pay the electric bill. R/s Ms. Jones has friends that take her out from time to time for food. R/s it was reported that her neighbor brings her cool water. R/s Ms. Jones eats can goods.

On 6/12/15 worker visited Mrs. Bobbie Mills at Shadescrest NH, for the purpose of monitoring her environment. When worker arrived, Mrs. Mills was sitting in wheelchair watching TV. She was very welcoming and remembered worker from previous visits. Mrs. Mills was appropriately dressed with good personal hygiene. She stated she liked Shadescrest because everyone was nice. Mrs. Mills stated, Mr. Mills and she had to move into NH because their home got damaged in the 2011 tornadoes. Ms. Mills is under the impression her son Tony is now fixing up the home. During visit worker noticed no health or safety

She reports that she often has mood swings and bouts of anger at times because of her birth control implant. Jane reports that when she gets upset she reacts by slamming doors, screaming, and/or arguing with her husband John. Jane’s husband and her mother do not feel there is a concern regarding Jane’s recent suicide attempt, mood swings, and bouts of anger. They feel as though she just had a melt down and will be fine in the future.

The Betty Ford Center is voted one of the best rehab recovery centers in the United

When asked about early childhood history, Betty explains that, “I have a very supportive family”. Betty further explains that she grew up living with her biological mother and step farther. However, her Biological father was not involved in her life. Betty reports that he was an alcoholic, and attempted suicide by cutting his wrist when she was in junior high. She then reports that her mother struggled with depression, but insisted that her mothers’ mental health issues did not affect her childhood. In fact, she explained that her mother and stepfather has currently been assigned as a safety net system by the Department of Children and Families. However, Betty reports history of mental health issues for herself. Betty explains that during late adolescents, she received outpatient counseling in New York for three months. She reports no previous psychiatric inpatient treatment. Betty do reports previous psychotropic medication for behavioral and health problems. Betty past medications included: Lexapro, which treated her depressive disorders; Zoloft, for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD); Prozac, for

Hi Amy, great post! I definentaly agree with the idea of independence being incorporated into a nursing home. Like you said it is important for mental and physical health that residents play a role in daily chores and activities. Animals are another great option to allow for independence and companionship.

Assisted living in Handforth is an ideal solution to those who are mainly independent but may need help with daily living personal care tasks such as bathing and dressing. It can be a difficult time when you realise that your elderly aunt needs more care and assistance in her daily living. Dystlegh Grange offers affordable, comfortable and well managed assisted living facilities.

The lack of attention to the aesthetics of the facility not only created a depressive feel, but also created sanitation issues. Caroline described the staff often placing soiled linens and used bed pans out in the hall for hours without being attended to. For Caroline, this exacerbated the painfulness of this already emotional transition for her when she first arrived. And even though Caroline’s room was cleaned by the staff prior to moving in, it still presented as dirty and with a foul order. The food at the nursing home was unappealing and often leads to the decrease in appetite of most of the residents. In addition, the fact that Caroline was the only female client posed a threat to her development of a support system and created an uncomfortable environment.

Lanesha is a 12 year old girl that has been having trouble with her temper and her anger in almost every aspect of her daily life. Her medicine and compliance to her treatment plan are no different. As a teenager, she does not want to continually be hassled and bothered. So to avoid this she constantly is telling the providers lies, or in her mind, “what they want to hear.” (http://support.mchtraining.net/national_ccce/case1/Flash/activity1.html). Lanesha has a sense of neglect from her grandmother because she states that she want to act like everything is fine as to appease her Grandmothers temperament. Marietta, also shares in frustration but also has a great deal of added stress as she also cares for her 10 year old grandchild and also her older ailing mother. Marietta exudes many of the qualities spoken by Dr. Horky in her presentation; her own age is taking a toll on her ability to care for Lanesha, she is worried about Lanesha. Due to Lanesha’s age and behavior however, Marietta is experiencing depression and grief. Almost portrays a sense that she has given up, like she has done all that she can. (Horky, n.d.). Other socioeconomic issues are in Marietta’s forefront.

Writing about the nine months she spent at the sanatorium Betty achieves a nice balance between extracting the maximum humor from the situation – the other patients, the nurses ('Granite Eyes' and 'Gravy Face'), the routine, the boredom of lying there doing nothing, the cold and discomfort in the draughty wards – and the genuine terror she experienced as the victim of a then potentially fatal disease. There was no guarantee at the time that she would ever emerge from Firland alive, let alone cracking jokes. However, others have attested to the fact that her sense of humor really did sustain her and that her unfailing ability to see the funny side was a surprise, and mostly a delight, to her fellow sufferers. One of these was 'Kimi', a young Japanese girl who in reality was Monica Sone, the Seattle-born daughter of Japanese immigrants. Monica later wrote about her months at Firland in her own autobiography. She described Betty's fluff of copper-bright hair, her easy laugh and the crisp humor which relieved the drabness of their highly regimented existence.

Mrs Cole is a 91 years old widow and has two children. Normally, she lives alone in a bungalow, has care three times per day daily from a caretaker and mobilizes with a walking frame. The days that the caretakers does not come to assist Mrs Cole, she attends a Christian community home where she receives some of her daily activities of living. Mrs Cole has been in the hospital three times due to falls while trying to reach tin cans of soup from a cabinet.