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Back to Table of Contents Back to Archives Main Page Section: Being Well The New Nursing Home By Toby Laping, Ph. D., C.S.W., Private Care Manager at Toby Laping Associates.
It isn’t that people around here aren’t thinking outside the box. I spoke recently with a woman who is attempting to develop a commune approach to caring for her husband. She would put together an extended household of couples in which one member requires care. Because spouses would spell each other, much as young parents often make communal child care arrangements, costs could be moderate and the use of hired helpers could be minimized. Institutions are trying to humanize. One local nursing home is developing “pods” or small living communities within the larger facility. Residents of each pod will retain some of their lifestyle preferences rather than conforming to the conveniences of staff. For example, because each pod has its own kitchen, residents can get up in the morning when they wish and, if capable, make their own breakfast. Western New York also has one apartment building which admits people who require hands-on home care. Another such facility is in development. Tenants live in their own units and aides provide help as needed. Despite these concepts and efforts, we’re behind many other areas of the country in creative thinking. Boston’s Beacon Hill project, recently written up in the New York Times, is a neighborhood effort to provide various services for a fee to people living in their own homes. Using economies of scale, the project has negotiated reduced rates on services for its members. Services range from home health aides and transportation to grocery shopping and confirming medical appointments. This makes it viable for people to remain in their homes for a moderate price when many might have required institutional placement. The Greenhouse Project is another concept seen elsewhere nationally as an alternative to the traditional nursing homes that are endemic in Western New York. Residents live in small group home settings and work with staff to run the house. Despite such debilitating symptoms as dementia, residents help with cooking, with chores around the house, and with day to day home maintenance tasks. In general, both the quality of life and the functional capacity of residents are startlingly better than the gradual deterioration that we often see in people living in traditional institutions. We have some advanced and thoughtful ideas in this region, but more need to be followed through to fruition. We need innovative solutions to deal with our growing population of elderly people and we need support from our government for alternative, good ideas. www.wnycaremanager.com back to top back to table of contents Current Issue | About Forever Young | Where to Find | Advertise | Our Advertisers | Community Calendar | Contest | Clubs | Contact Us | Archives | Home |
