“Across the nation,” says Associated Press writer Don Babwin in an
article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “a growing number of nursing
homes have abandoned the traditional way of caring for the elderly.
They've turned their facilities into places that look and feel more
like homes and retirement centers and less like hospitals.”
They're also encouraging residents to make choices on their own, says
Babwin, instead of leaving the decisions to nurses and
administrators. Inside nursing homes that have instituted this
so-called “culture change”, residents are deciding what time to get up
and when to go to bed, when to eat, when to shower or bathe, echoing
the lives they led when they were living in their own homes.
Aside from a change in how residents are treated by both staff and
administration, many nursing homes are literally changing their
facilities. Those that have been renovated are more airy and
open, boasting “town squares” for residents to gather together and
watch TV or socialize. Many have added libraries, gift shops,
bistros, and game rooms, replacing the imposing nurse’s stations that
were once so prevalent in nursing homes, the article notes.
Residents are far happier in this environment. "The people that
were slumped over, I thought it was (because of) age and disease," says
Steve Shields, CEO of Meadowlark Hills Retirement Village in Kansas.
"But, in fact, it was a compete loss of self. When you have no say in
what time you get up, what you eat, no real purpose ... then you lose
yourself."
The real struggle, however, for many facilities is finding the money to
make these improvements, especially for the nursing homes that house a
large number of individuals on public assistance.
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By: Barb Hardy Posted: Feb 07 2006 03:16:41 PM