Nursing home care and its alternatives

Nursing homes have become part of the solution and part of the problem. Nursing home care has always been expensive, and state legislatures, concerned with the fact that people are living longer and at greater expense, have pursued ways of making the public dollar stretch further. Social workers, lobbying groups such as the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), legislators, and the elderly themselves have attempted to find alternatives to long-term nursing home care.

Caregiving for the elderly has become a growth industry. Ever-increasing numbers of older persons and family caregivers have to confront difficult choices about types of living arrangements and levels of care for those who are experiencing diminished or reduced capacity. Various housing and eldercare alternatives have been devised. Amid a range of prospects, from skilled care to adult day care to in-home service providers to board and care homes, the nursing home remains as an unpleasant reminder of the old system of institutionalizing the elderly.

The practice of putting the elderly in nursing homes is a twentieth-century phenomenon, and, as Esh

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support to families under duress: Some nursing home facilities have family and friends' groups that provide emotional bracing for family members. Weekly or monthly meetings are both educative and supportive in scope. Families are encouraged to share concerns, develop friendships and alliances, and gain assistance in meeting needs (p. 95). It is very important that families do not neglect their own emotional well-being when a loved one is in a nursing home. Typical of most caregivers, most family members will neglect their own needs in the hopes of satisfying those of a loved one who has been placed in a nursing home. Yet the role of families in nursing home life must be far more than one of quiet visitor and passive observer--it must be a role of partnership. Family members need to work cooperatively with nursing home staff and administration. The family must provide the patient with frequent visits and much love. The nursing home staff can provide the skill, knowledge, and concern of professionals, but they are emotionally devoted to their own families. A devoted family visiting their loved one in a nursing home cannot be substituted by the staff. Karr (1991) considers a belief in the sacredness of life (a belief
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Approximate Word count = 3455
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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