Nursing Home Institutionalization Essay

Nursing homes and assisted facility homes are all examples of long term care facilities. These facilities are usually targeting individuals who are of geriatric age or need around the clock care (mental health and physical health). The residents in these communities have access to individually-tailored levels of individual or group-centered activities, programs, and assistance whether it is with home or personal care. Long term care facilities are generally for those who are unable to manage independently in the community. Specific types of long-term services include nursing homes, hospice care, home health agencies, and residential care facilities. The goal of these programs is to make sure each patient has a safe and comforting environment

“The Palace” is located in the heart of the gables. It is one of the top notch awarded nursing home facilities for seniors stated by many families. Currently being an employee at this facility, I am learning the frightful stories of senior living. Even the Palace one of the most expensive, awarded senior living is actually a terrible place for the elderly. Especially, working at the Front Desk as the receptionist, I have seen firsthand how these poor seniors are forced into these haunted “luxurious” homes. The marble of the building has been often a misleading reason for placing their parent or grandparent in such terrible care. Most humans tend to judge by the appearance of the nursing homes rather than further investigating any violations that the facilities may have. From my own experience with my grandmother, I know it can be very difficult to take care of a senior citizen, especially when they suffer from various conditions and are just not safe in their home. Once adults become seniors, they require a lot of attention and assistance, which is hard when running a whole household and a career. But placing your loved one in one of these facilities can just shorten the amount of time they have to live. Also, it can be very expensive. Lastly, nursing home makes seniors feel the lack of freedom.

Current numbers show substantial growth from the eighties, and estimates suggest that the demand for long term care among the elderly will more than double in the next thirty years. (Feder, Komisar, and Niefeld) This growth will exacerbate concerns about balancing institutional and noninstitutional care, assuring quality of care, and most importantly adopting and sustaining financing mechanisms that equitably and adequately protect the elderly who need long-term care.

Taking care of the individuals that are getting older takes many different needs. Most of these needs cannot be given from the help of a family. This causes the need of having to put your love one into a home and causing for the worry of how they will be treated. It is important for the family and also the soon to be client to feel at home in their new environment. This has been an issue with the care being provided for each individual, which has lead to the need of making sure individuals have their own health care plan.

Although it does not usually make news headlines and is rarely discussed, nursing home residents and the elderly experience abuse sometimes on a daily basis. Medical errors, physical abuse, or stealing from them could all be classified as abuse. All around the world today, a population that is not able to help itself is being harmed, whether it is physical or sexual abuse, exploitation, or not being properly supervised; the elderly and nursing home residents are being abused.

The long-term care services delivery system in the United States has changed substantially over the last 30 years . There are approximately 17,000 elderly and disabled persons are receiving care in nursing homes (NNHS, 2004). The number of people using nursing facilities, alternative residential care places, or home care services are projected to increase from 15 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2050 (HHS, 2003). Identifying the best nursing home that would fit their needs can be difficult and time-consuming. Although nursing homes usually provide certain basic care that patients need, some nursing home facilities provides special care for certain types of individuals with special needs. For example, people with dementia, AIDS, ventilator-dependents,

Assisted Living Concepts Inc., hereafter referred to as ALC, was a Nevada corporation formed in 1994 with its principal place of business in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. ALC provides senior assisted living residences that provide multiple personal services for their residences. ALC was purchased by Extendicare Health Services, Inc. in January 2005. In 2006 ALC was spun off from Extendicare as a publicly traded company. As of December 31, 2012 ALC had 211 assisted and independent living residences in 20 states totaling 9,348 units with 4,600 employees. ALC generated revenues in excess of $228 million dollars for year-end 2012 (Assisted Living Concepts, Inc. 2013). In July 2013, ALC was acquired by the private equity firm TPG Capital, L.P. for $278.3 million dollars (Boulton 2013). In March 2014 ALC changed their name to Enlivant (Enlivant 2014).

With over 1.5 million elderly and dependent adults now living in nursing homes throughout the country, abuse and neglect has become a widespread problem. Even though some nursing homes provide good care, many are subjecting helpless residents to needless suffering and death. Most residents in nursing homes are dependent on the staff for most or all their needs such as food, water, medicine, toileting, grooming- almost all their daily care. Unfortunately, many residents in nursing homes today are starved, dehydrated, over-medicated, and suffer painful pressure sores. They are often isolated, ignored and deprived of social contact and stimulation. Because of insufficient and poorly trained staff commonly found in

As the healthcare system in this country has changed, so have traditional nursing homes. Families have the right to expect that their loved ones will be taken care of by professionals in a caring environment. Unfortunately, may people are being abused and neglected in nursing homes. It is very clear that abuse is a serious problem among nursing home patients, and something needs to be done to put a stop to it.

Congress. Codified as section 1819 and 1919 of the Social Security Act, the landmark legislation declared that every nursing home must protect and promote the rights of each resident, including, “The right to be free from … any physical or chemical restraints imposed for purposes of discipline or convenience and not required to treat the resident’s medical symptoms.” When the Nursing Home Reform Act was adopted it was widely accepted to use restraints as an acceptable and widely-used option to manage the behavior of residents who wandered; were agitated; or who in the view of treatment staff, simply needed to be restrained. However, the standard use of restraints was not supported by a body of research that found that physical restraints had

Chapter 10 discusses long term care. Long term care involves many services. Cognitive impairment is when someone has a hard time remembering things. ADL’s can help determine this, ADL’s include looking at someone’s ability to do simple things like taking a shower or eating. IADLs involve looking to see if a person is capable to cook and manage other things like housework. The National Study of Long Term Care Providers is a new research developed that will help us determine how much in LTC services we will need. We as tax payers are the primary people responsible for LTC. LTC services are formed to fit the need of the patient, to do this we look at their mental, physical capabilities.

Health care is a necessity in life, even more so for the elderly, but the country we live in does not provide its citizens with a universal health care system. With that being said, it is pivotal for the elderly to find ways to finance their health expenses. With the advancement of medical technology, there are 44.7 million individuals that are 65 and above about 14% of the population. (census.gov) Finding ways to provide the elderly is a daunting task. On the bright side, there are many different programs to assist the elderly in paying for the health care they need.

To be honest, I haven’t really been in a long-term care facility, at least, not any normal long-term care facility; my grandparents are all still alive and for the most part, spry. However, a few years ago, when my then 94-year-old great grandmother began to be unable to live on her own she moved to a senior community that had the option of hospice care/long term care in her own apartment. It gave her a social and yet independent environment that she enjoyed until she fell so badly that she could no longer function on her own. My cousin had to move in with her to take care of her until she died. Before she died, I went over a few times a week during the summer to give my cousin a break from 24/7 care. I learned how to help my grandmother

The nursing homes that are present today have definitely evolved a great deal from where they first started. Before the 19th century, no age-restricted institutions existed in order to care for long term residents. The elderly people who had an incapacity, were impoverished, or had no family, often ended their days in almshouses (FATE). In these almshouses, elders had to live with those who were insane, intoxicated, and homeless. The older individuals ended up being the dominant residents in the almshouses so superintendents changes the names of these asylums. By 1923, the proportion of elders had increased to 67% in the institutions, and managers stated they could find everything they needed (FATE). This began the formation of nursing homes, however, there was still a negative view that came from the almshouses. People still

Out of the rapidly inclining population in the world, there are people who develop dementia every 66 seconds(“2016 Alzheimer’s Disease”). Being such a common disease in the elderly, there are 47.5 million people in the world with this disease(“2016 Alzheimer’s Disease”). Once families start to realize that their parents and grandparents have developed this, they start to wonder if they are able to live on their own. Within a few months, a decision is made whether if it is best for them to be put into a nursing home. Most often, those with dementia do happen to end up in nursing homes. Many wonder if being put into a nursing home will actually cause their dementia and their ability to live on their own to worsen. With the effects of activities, this could change. Activities help slow the deterioration of the brain(Smith). The activities and exercises performed by nursing homes to help improve the overall cognitive development in dementia patients. Nursing homes should induct purposeful daily activities to improve cognitive, social, and psychological development in dementia care