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Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

oregonlive.com

31–40 of 227 posts

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#31

In all my time living in Louisiana, the only time I saw a fire truck near a home was when the house was actually on fire or under threat of fire. In Texas? EVERY SINGLE TIME I see an ambulance, I see a fire truck. It makes ZERO sense most of the time. Texas municipalities are using medical emergencies to fund their fire departments (and jack up insurance rates in the process) by sending fire trucks to people even whe…

I saw a fire truck (and ambulance) get called in Santa Cruz, CA, because an elderly person fell inside their house and couldn't get up.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#32

If there is an industry that needs startups, it is long term care and senior care in general. Expensive, nearly universally badly done, and it seems like a lot of people could stay in their homes with some automated appliances/thoughtful redesigns of everyday items. Hoping that when my grandparents start needing it in 5-10 years that the options have dramatically improved.

Sounds like an industry that needs regulation and public sector intervention. If you care and have a lot of money, you can pay for home health aids who will do an excellent job caring for your elderly relatives. The issues is that a good number of people just don't care and take an "out of sight out of mind" approach. A startup can't disrupt this, only regulations which protect elder rights can. Those who do care frequently can't afford it, but a startup can eliminate the costs of caring human interaction, which is the primary thing that elderly people today need more of. The government, however, could help pay for these costs by covering more elder care under Medicare.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#33

If there is an industry that needs startups, it is long term care and senior care in general. Expensive, nearly universally badly done, and it seems like a lot of people could stay in their homes with some automated appliances/thoughtful redesigns of everyday items. Hoping that when my grandparents start needing it in 5-10 years that the options have dramatically improved.

> with some automated appliances/thoughtful redesigns Can you give some examples? I guess I can start: something that monitors gas cookers, which already exists: iguardfire.com

Sure. I am not talking about large things like chair lifts for stairs but rather small problems that cumulatively could drive a senior out of their home.

- Gutters. Being on a roof at 78 is not safe and contracting out gutter cleaning can be expensive. Some way to make gutters easier to empty/make them not require emptying. I imagine a robotic snake that wiggles through, but I am sure the real solution is more mundane.

- Small steps. Lots of little steps are casually put into homes. For example, the garage often has a step into the powder room or there is a step between the living room and the kitchen. Yes, you can put a small stool there, but it moves and isn't that stable and is still too high. What I want is a small ramp that they can shuffle up if they need to and is sturdy enough that it won't move and is thin enough at the top to fit under the door.

- Food prep. An automated way to stir a pot. Oven trays with easy to grasp sides. Automated peelers/choppers. The tasks which are hard on old hands or require stability.

- Social connection. Event info has moved online, but it is hard for them to access. I did a hackathon project on this where it was an Alexa skill for getting event info. Ideally there might be some rideshare integration as well.

- Cleaning. I find it crazy that humans still clean virtually every toilet. There has got to be a better way. Toilets are one of the hardest things for them because you have to get down on hands and knees.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#34

In all my time living in Louisiana, the only time I saw a fire truck near a home was when the house was actually on fire or under threat of fire. In Texas? EVERY SINGLE TIME I see an ambulance, I see a fire truck. It makes ZERO sense most of the time. Texas municipalities are using medical emergencies to fund their fire departments (and jack up insurance rates in the process) by sending fire trucks to people even whe…

No that is not why. Some municipalities require Fire departments to staff paramedics on their trucks and private ambulance companies tend to use EMTs.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#35

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

> Whoever spread that “death panels” meme should be forced to write America a check for five hundred billion dollars.

Something tells me Sarah Palin doesn't have that much money

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#36

Sounds like we should tax senior homes to fund increased staff for fire departments, basically de-privatizing senior homes...

Or firefighters can continue doing their job like the rest of us, seeing that they’re some of the highest paid members of our society… I think they’re just bitter they can’t use their lazy man recliners as much as they use to. I for one am glad they are finally experiencing what it’s like to work for any private organization.

The firefighters are finding it hard to do their jobs because they're being called to help do chores for senior homes. That is what the whole article is about. It sounds to me like they wouldn't mind helping the elderly if it didn't prevent them from fulfilling their primary job of, you know, fighting fires.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#38

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

Or we could just you know, invest into this since all of us will be old some day and some of us may, even after a life time of contribution, could face unlucky circumstances that leave us alone in the end?

What's wrong with dignity for other people, I feel like trying to maximize for monetary profit is going to be our downfall.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#39
post #30

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

So the solution is to spend less money but pay people more, and shoulder the rest on taxpayers? This probably won't work very long since the population isn't as triangular as it used to be (to my understanding this is what happened to Japan). I get the justified call to fix things for people that require these services. The US can barely afford to school its children, purchase its homes, or enact reasonable public he…

>The US can barely afford to school its children

You're the richest nation on earth. You can afford it, the people who control the purse strings choose to use it on other shit that benefits themselves.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#40

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

The worst part is the payment structure and how it doesn't allow real choice. If you told the 88 year old:

"We can (a) pay $500,000 on treatments that will likely extend your life 1 year, or (b) put $250,000 in a tax-advantaged account to put your great-grandchildren through college", I bet that 99% of those 88 year olds would take option B and take hospice care instead. They would all prioritize their children, grandchildren, etc!

But that's not the option... it's them, vs some nebulous national slush fund of cash where they and nobody they know gets no benefit out of being selfless. We should fix that.

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