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My nursing home experience
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Social Commentary Entry Slip There were many different directions I was contemplating taking my social commentary essay. I decided on my topic, problems with nursing homes, because I felt like there were many ways I could elaborate on it. It reminded me of the most versatile vegetable, a potato. Just as a potato has many different ways of preparing it, the topic of nursing homes provided options for me to write about. This topic is very close to my heart because my grandmother used to live in a nursing home, and my grandfather currently lives in one. Because I have witnessed their treatment first-hand, I had a great deal of background knowledge to elaborate on. I have seen the affects that the price of nursing homes have had on my grandparents
Within the U.S. Healthcare system there are different levels of healthcare; Long-Term Care also known as (LTC), Integrative Care, and Mental Health. While these services are contained within in the U.S. Healthcare system, they function on dissimilar levels.
In conclusion there needs to be an increase in government funding for long term care facilities to convey maximum ability to provide quality of care to elders and equal accessibility too homes and care. Ways that can produce this outcome are increases in staff funding for training and recruitment, as well as for equipment to help increase care. Government funding should also help elders decrease the cost of living in nursing homes and allow equal accessibility to homes and care in homes.
When it comes to operating nursing home facilities, there are many stakeholders involved depending on whether the institution is for-profit, non-profit or government owned. Majority of nursing homes are for-profit organization and they account for almost 70 percent of nursing homes, while non-profit nursing homes account for less than 30 percent and less 6 percent are government owned (Nursing home data Compendium, 2015). Nearly 95.5 percent of nursing homes across the state are dually certified, meaning they have both Medicare and Medicaid certifications (Center for Medicare and Medicaid, 2015). Nursing home funding comes from four different sectors. Nearly fifty percent of their revenue come from Medicaid, followed by Medicare which counts for twenty percent, and the rest of payments come from a mixture of private-long-term care insurance and out of pocket (Yoder, 2012).
Nursing homes initial purpose was to provide care to the aging population in a home-like environment. With the creation of social security, the elderly had the opportunity to be taken care of and supported through the healthcare system. Ultimately turning nursing homes into a hospital setting. Now people are mostly thought of as patients and their disease first rather than human beings. Basic needs are meet such as shelter, food, and medication, but interpersonal human needs have been lost. Covering the cost of medications which sometimes numbs a persona are far easier, than personal music which could help retain a person’s sense of
“A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless, are the true gold mines of a culture.” –Abraham Joshua Heschel. I decided to do my senior project on becoming a certified nursing assistant because I believe CNA’s go beyond their limits for their patients. This is in honor of all CNA’s who work hard to care for the sick and elderly.
The long-term care system consists of an integrated continuum of many institutional and non-institutional providers who deliver extended care when needed. Long-term care providers deliver a variety of care to individuals with chronic, mobility and/or cognitive impairments/limitations. These providers include: nursing facilities, sub acute care, assisted living, residential care, elderly housing options and community based adult services (Pratt, 2010). A great majority of these providers are already taking care of the many baby boomers that are present today and will be present in the future. “Baby boomers” are individuals who were born between the years 1946-1964. Since 2011, every day 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 years old (Pratt, 2010). This
Elderly Culture and Nursing Homes Nursing homes offer a wide range of long-term care assistance for older adults to be able to meet their everyday needs. Older adults from different cultural backgrounds experience conflict with their decision to participate in a nursing home, catalyzing the underlying stigma different cultures hold towards nursing homes. In many cultures, older adults look for family as their primary source of care. However, when their needs cannot be met due to disability and mental health issues, it begins to take a toll on the person’s instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). IADLs are complex daily actions that are needed to live (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015).
African American senior citizens face a health care crisis too. They have worked all of their lives to secure retirement, but their retirement has been threatened because of the rising cost of long-term medical care. Insurance companies have failed to provide affordable long-term care, protection that most senior citizens need. This lack of long term care and affordability has been a serious problem for the health care system. In some cities, the shortage of hospital beds is so serious that it is common for patients to stay in emergency rooms before they can be admitted to an inpatient room (Drake 109). More than one thousand hospital beds are occupied by people who could be better care for in nursing homes or through home health care (Drake 110). Of the disabled elderly 1.3 million reside in nursing homes (Drake 10). These patients are unable to perform two or more of the basic activities of daily living without assistance.
Nursing home care is expensive. Although prices vary, the basic charge for a double-bed room in a typical nursing home is in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 a year. Homes in rural areas tend to be slightly less expensive than those in cities. The costs of medications and physician visits are not included in the basic charge. Also, special treatments such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy often add to the cost. There are also possible additional charges for drugs, laundry, haircuts, and extra services. Some nursing homes are operated as nonprofit corporations. They are sponsored by religious, charitable, fraternal and other groups or ran by government agencies at the federal, state, or local levels. But many nursing homes are businesses operated for profit. Individuals or corporations may own them. Sometimes they are part of a chain of nursing homes.
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.
With the aging population growing faster every year many families must make a difficult decision whether their loved ones should live in assisted living or nursing home facilities. I can relate because I made the decision to care for my mother at my home. Some people do not have the money or resources to care for their parent so they must live in a facility for health and safety reasons.
Kick, Ella. "Overview: Health Care and the Aging Population: What Are Today's Challenges?" The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. N.p., n.d. Web.
Up until a few years ago I never thought that one of my grandparents would be in a nursing home. I had always been lucky to have them healthy. However, this changed about a year ago when my grandfather had a mini-stroke, which caused him to require extra care my grandmother could not provide. Watching my family deal with my grandfather made me aware of the care and services the elderly need and has made me realize how important it is to volunteer at a local nursing home.
It was a cold, snowy day, just a few days after Thanksgiving. My grandmother became immensely ill and unable to care for herself. My family hoped they had made arrangements for her to be taken care of. Just a few short days later our minds had been blown and we were totally thrown off. This was the day I realized what I was destined to do. I had never been so determined in my life.
This is a reflective writing essay, based on what I learned this semester in my sociology 1013.51 Introduction to Sociology. I am going to discuss a few of the concepts and lessons that I have learned in class and from my instructor.