America (and the developed world) is growing old in greater numbers than in previous history. No one wants to live in a nursing home, but the rise of this institution has been a hallmark of the twentieth century. The long-term care industry is experiencing financial and image problems. The need for nursing home alternatives has never been greater.
There are some 17,000 skilled care facilities housing about 1.6 million people in the U. S. The trend throughout the twentieth century has been to put our incapacitated elderly into them. Some residents have no one else, and some families have no other choice.
If you ask just about anybody where they want to be for the last years, days, minutes of their lives they would not answer "in an old-folks home." Skilled nursing facilities are seen by many Americans as cold, with crowded wards -- antiseptic and fetid by turns. The aged and infirm lose their independence and dignity and could be subject to neglect or abuse.
Not all skilled care homes are as good or bad as others are and much of the negative impression is perceptual, but most are glaringly institutional in their "look and feel". The nursing home industry is facing trouble finding workers and government payments are less, while at the same time the regulatory burden grows. Many facilities have closed are have gone bankrupt.
There are opportunities to spend one's last years at home, or at least in a homelike atmosphere, with at much independence as possible. Home health care and adult day care are just two of many stay-at-home alternatives. Retirement apartments or residential communities are alternative living arrangements designed where the senior citizen can live alone but has services like meals, personal care, housekeeping and others.
If the time comes when your loved one can no longer live independently with assistance, or needs around the clock supervision, or develops other age or health related problems, there may be no other choice but to put them in a "home". One of the ways that the care industry is responding to the needs of its customers is by making fundamental changes in the way in which skilled care facilities are managed. These center on making nursing homes less institutional and more home like and giving the residents more autonomy and an active role in facility governance.
As the human population of the world continues into historical highs, the first wave of this historical explosion, or "baby-boomers" enter retirement age. Extraordinary creativity and resolve will be needed to meet the needs of our aging loved ones and find good nursing home alternatives. So far, we haven't learned to live forever, we are learning to live a little longer. Each of us will be touched by the issue of whether or not we can learn to live better.
There are some 17,000 skilled care facilities housing about 1.6 million people in the U. S. The trend throughout the twentieth century has been to put our incapacitated elderly into them. Some residents have no one else, and some families have no other choice.
If you ask just about anybody where they want to be for the last years, days, minutes of their lives they would not answer "in an old-folks home." Skilled nursing facilities are seen by many Americans as cold, with crowded wards -- antiseptic and fetid by turns. The aged and infirm lose their independence and dignity and could be subject to neglect or abuse.
Not all skilled care homes are as good or bad as others are and much of the negative impression is perceptual, but most are glaringly institutional in their "look and feel". The nursing home industry is facing trouble finding workers and government payments are less, while at the same time the regulatory burden grows. Many facilities have closed are have gone bankrupt.
There are opportunities to spend one's last years at home, or at least in a homelike atmosphere, with at much independence as possible. Home health care and adult day care are just two of many stay-at-home alternatives. Retirement apartments or residential communities are alternative living arrangements designed where the senior citizen can live alone but has services like meals, personal care, housekeeping and others.
If the time comes when your loved one can no longer live independently with assistance, or needs around the clock supervision, or develops other age or health related problems, there may be no other choice but to put them in a "home". One of the ways that the care industry is responding to the needs of its customers is by making fundamental changes in the way in which skilled care facilities are managed. These center on making nursing homes less institutional and more home like and giving the residents more autonomy and an active role in facility governance.
As the human population of the world continues into historical highs, the first wave of this historical explosion, or "baby-boomers" enter retirement age. Extraordinary creativity and resolve will be needed to meet the needs of our aging loved ones and find good nursing home alternatives. So far, we haven't learned to live forever, we are learning to live a little longer. Each of us will be touched by the issue of whether or not we can learn to live better.
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