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Monkhouse Mondays: No more Nursing-Home Placements - Barhar1 on
Monkhouse Mondays: No more Nursing-Home Placements
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« Aspens in the Autumn | Main | Privatizing Social Security »
October 6, 2008 |Permalink |Comments (2)
Monkhouse Mondays: No more Nursing-Home Placements
Some European regions such as Switzerland have attracted considerable immigration of well-educated, cosmopolitan professionals and their families, often referred to as the "brain-gain“. It is routine for companies to hire relocation-specialists in order to help these individuals and families settle in, find local people to talk to, the right school for the children, a job for the spouse. They get the different culture explained and all in all, everyday life is made as easy and as stress-less as possible.
Relocation to a nursing home should be planned, the culture explained, prepared for and the daily stressors minimized until safely settled in and relationships formed. Following a pilot-project in an Eden-Home in Switzerland, this service has been regarded as essential, because people could choose, plan, were helped and advocated for and the word “placement” was eradicated from use. Shouldn’t this service become mainstream? Elders provide jobs as much as international companies do.
-- Christa Monkhouse
Comments ( 2)
I advocate that planning and preparation for move to a Nursing Home is a concept whose time has passed with the Nursing Home being a place where elders receive care.
Perhaps one of the many reasons that Nursing Homes are viewed as negatively as they are viewed, is due to the lack of choice, relationships and autonomy that exist in most nursing homes.
Nursing Homes as they exist today are "placement" of last resort for elders and their families who are no longer able to support the care needs of their elders. As a result, elders are placed against their will, and for the most part wait for the inevitable to occur.
I am fortunate to work in a CCRCs (resident owned and governed) where our elders had planned for their move.(most if not all had to sell their primary homes to afford to move into MPP)
Elders who move into Maplewood Park Place receive an orientation to the community. They are visited by other elders on the welcoming committee and invited to dinner so that they do not have to go dinner by themselves. Elders at Maplewood Park Place use their gifts and skills to serve on committees such as Health Issues, Landscaping, Finance, Food and Flower committees as well as serve on the board. The relationships between elders and staff in the community are very strong.
As elders move through the levels of care they continue to enjoy full access to all services and amenities in the community.
Elders with a higher level of independence support those that are frailer through their community service and personal support.
There are Vegas nights and dances, operas and cruises.
Continuing Care Retirement Community is an inadequate description for this community, its more of a Continuining life Community.
I advocate that planning for a move to a Nursing Home is just the beginning. We need to get to where there are no Nursing Homes just Continuing life Centers where the young Old and the Old Old live in harmony. Only then will we have a true unforced community, a community where free will abounds. Only then will we be able to eradicate the loneliness and despair of growing old in a Nursing Home.
I agree with the planning process for moving to a nursing home or assisted living. In some areas of the country, people are really beginning to utilize Geriatric Care Managers to help with this process. Communities that partner and team with GCMs can really improve and enhance the experience for the resident, family, and community.