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Building Better Nursing Homes

theatlantic.com

1–10 of 16 posts

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#2
Plenty of money is needed to create a better nursing home. Then finding the staff with "the call" to perform the very difficult job of caring and serving others.

Once that better nursing home is built, very few will be able to afford it. I know I will not. Yet, I do not lose hope.

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#3

Plenty of money is needed to create a better nursing home. Then finding the staff with "the call" to perform the very difficult job of caring and serving others. Once that better nursing home is built, very few will be able to afford it. I know I will not. Yet, I do not lose hope.

According to the article, it appears that the better nursing home advocated costs more to build, but doesn't cost more to run. Capital is usually easier to get from donors and the government than operating expenses; capital lets you put your name on the building and get your picture in the paper. That makes me slightly optimistic.

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#4

Plenty of money is needed to create a better nursing home. Then finding the staff with "the call" to perform the very difficult job of caring and serving others. Once that better nursing home is built, very few will be able to afford it. I know I will not. Yet, I do not lose hope.

Some things are really easy and cheap.

Paint the zimmer frames red, for example.

One symptom of dementia illnesses is that your vision is affected; you stop seeing some things if they're the wrong colour. Red is the last colour to go, so you want all cups to be red on a contrasting colour table so that the person can see it and drink from it.

Having red zimmer frames means people see them and use them, reducing falls and increasing mobility. (Falls are really damaging for older people. It's kind of surprising how much life is shortened from a simple fall.)

Apologies for .doc

http://www.bcf.nhs.uk/docs/14053_1922582528.doc

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#5

Plenty of money is needed to create a better nursing home. Then finding the staff with "the call" to perform the very difficult job of caring and serving others. Once that better nursing home is built, very few will be able to afford it. I know I will not. Yet, I do not lose hope.

IMO nursing homes problem will be solved as other expensive activities have been solved (or patched): relocation and offshoring.

How much does cost a low-end nursing home in the US? In South Europe $2k can get you a mid-end nursing home.

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#6
post #4

Plenty of money is needed to create a better nursing home. Then finding the staff with "the call" to perform the very difficult job of caring and serving others. Once that better nursing home is built, very few will be able to afford it. I know I will not. Yet, I do not lose hope.

Some things are really easy and cheap. Paint the zimmer frames red, for example. One symptom of dementia illnesses is that your vision is affected; you stop seeing some things if they're the wrong colour. Red is the last colour to go, so you want all cups to be red on a contrasting colour table so that the person can see it and drink from it. Having red zimmer frames means people see them and use them, reducing falls…

To save everyone else the googling: Zimmer Frame = Walker

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#7

Plenty of money is needed to create a better nursing home. Then finding the staff with "the call" to perform the very difficult job of caring and serving others. Once that better nursing home is built, very few will be able to afford it. I know I will not. Yet, I do not lose hope.

IMO nursing homes problem will be solved as other expensive activities have been solved (or patched): relocation and offshoring. How much does cost a low-end nursing home in the US? In South Europe $2k can get you a mid-end nursing home.

Plus automation and computers, perhaps.

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#8

Plenty of money is needed to create a better nursing home. Then finding the staff with "the call" to perform the very difficult job of caring and serving others. Once that better nursing home is built, very few will be able to afford it. I know I will not. Yet, I do not lose hope.

IMO nursing homes problem will be solved as other expensive activities have been solved (or patched): relocation and offshoring. How much does cost a low-end nursing home in the US? In South Europe $2k can get you a mid-end nursing home.

I can't quite tell if you are being satirical, but some folks wouldn't be okay with having their parents live in Ecuador and never seeing them.

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO nursing homes problem will be solved as other expensive activities have been solved (or patched): relocation and offshoring. How much does cost a low-end nursing home in the US? In South Europe $2k can get you a mid-end nursing home.

I can't quite tell if you are being satirical, but some folks wouldn't be okay with having their parents live in Ecuador and never seeing them.

But okay with them in Utah or some other state far away? You can just got to Columbia once a year as you fly once a year to Utah. Plus the whether is better.

Re: Building Better Nursing Homes

#10
In the beginning the elderly among us lived in homes, taken care of by family members, and often, offering wisdom in return to their grandchildren.

Then, in the name of economic growth and labor specialization, we push the elderly among us into nursing "homes", to let people who are more "efficient" take care of them.

Finally we realize efficiency can mean inhumane treatment, and in a bid to restore "dignity", put them back in homes. Without us living with them, of course.

Oh, the irony.

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