This is so wonderful.............
- Thread starter staropeace
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...and to think it was here in my state...this blows "out of the box" out of the water!....I just wish this had been available for my grandparents...
What a magnificent concept. May more facilities get on that band wagon.
This is wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. What a lovely thing to do to ease the anxiety of so many.
Hate to be a downer, but, people not in long care facilities who have natural sunrise and sunset, natural earthy sounds and smells, still continue to decline.
I watched it happen to MIL. She was being taken outside to real grass, birds, watching children play.
I watched the documentary about Glen Campbell. He also was declining while getting all this stuff naturally.
I'm sure it makes the families feel better though. Maybe they feel less guilt when the put a loved one into a care facility.
I watched it happen to MIL. She was being taken outside to real grass, birds, watching children play.
I watched the documentary about Glen Campbell. He also was declining while getting all this stuff naturally.
I'm sure it makes the families feel better though. Maybe they feel less guilt when the put a loved one into a care facility.
I think a lot of it is a safety issue. Alzheimer's people wander. They still want to do their daily business, think they can. So, this place is set up like they have a post office, a grocery store, a dry cleaners.
I honestly think it is more for their safety.
....this may not be perfection, but it's a damn sight better than having them strapped into Geri-chairs, reeking of their own urine and feces, with a vacant and hopeless look on their weathered faces....
Yes. It still gives them the sense that they are doing something, out there living their lives. It's sad and beautiful all at the same time.
This particular article doesn't talk about that (though it may be a part of it as there are other facilities in other countries like that). It talks of artificial sky, artificial grass, aromatherapy, as if those things will help improve the mental functioning of a person with Alzheimer's. But people living with those things real (not artificial) continue to decline.
Most people who put a family member into a facility do it for safety reasons. There comes a point where you cannot care for them and keep them safe unless you have a LOT of help.
I agree. But wouldn't real outside be better than artificial? And giving families false hope (he/she is not going to get better in this facility) is wrong.
I've been fortunate. What I've seen personally has been really good care facilities. Walking past a room and overhearing a nurse being so patient and caring, when she didn't know anyone was witnessing....seeing a nurse treating MIL respectfully even though MIL was acting like a child (because in that moment she was a child). A nurses aide who used to put my dad in a wheel chair and take him outside the hospital to watch kids playing baseball. My own son working as a volunteer sitting while a lady showed him all her albums of family pictures, and taking her outside to see a bird. And the lady who called him by her son's name. It made her feel better knowing that her son was coming to visit her, so he became her son.
I guess, in that article I'm seeing walls and ceilings....but in my mind, it's the workers that matter so much more. And real windows and an outside park area would be so much better.
Yes, all of that is part of living life in the outside world. They are giving them the idea that they are still living their life. Yes, they will continue to decline as that is the scourge of Alzheimer's. But, until then, they are giving them this sense of living in the world and not a hospital, just stashed away.
I think this is using what you got to the fullest. It is not always possible for Alzheimer's people to go out into the natural settings....especially if they are infirm and it is winter. This provides a wonderful contract to a boring corridor in a senior home. Heck, I would like something like that myself! It is charming and it shows a lot of imagination and love in the doing of this.
....I'm not trying to be antagonistic sweetheart, I understand what you're saying and the validity of your side of the issue....but the decline, as has been stated continues-no matter the stimuli....we tried with my grandparents that were affected with this insidious stealer of selves, and it brightened them briefly, but the safety factor became the overwhelming issue-that and the mental health of the loved one/caregiver....
Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
Plus I am sure they smell better than some of those facilities where the overpowering smell
of urine
Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
yes - you have that right - it is a 24 hour a day job - especially when your Dad wanders and is no longer safe (I speak from personal experience)
Plus I am sure they smell better than some of those facilities where the overpowering smellcan sometimes pervade the airof urine
Unless there is actual cleaning, you get peppermint AND urine smell.
I have been in several facilities, including two that were locked wards in an actual hospital (people waiting for beds in long term care facilities) and none smelled of urine. One smelled of lemon because that was the kind of cleaner they used.
~~~
This new and modern facility would be very expensive to place a loved one in. Agreed? And how many people would pay whatever was charged because of this advertising?
Does anyone here believe an artificial sky, pretty looking porch, green carpet, and peppermint scent will contribute to relearning self-care? But how much would you pay if you believed it?
~~~~
We all agree, proper care and cleaning is the most important.
I just think windows and an outside park area is better than what this facility offers. And I feel like they are implying impossible outcomes.
The real stuff is better. With alzheimer's patients, things just have to be set up different for them. Their brains are not thinking like a normal brain. And I don't think they are implying impossible outcomes. I do think everything they are doing is adding to the well being of people who are living their lives like automatons (no disrespect intended). They want and need to think they are still doing what they do. The actual fact that they don't even realize they are still in a building doing all these things just shows where their minds have degenerated to. And, who's to say aromatherapy does not soothe them? It soothes me.
Unless there is some brilliant cure, these people are dying. Everyone knows it. So, why not just let them live out their life in their little world? What is that hurting?
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Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
Thanks
and by the way the place my Dad was in (and I hate to admit it) DID smell of urine - he was in a room with two other men
When they don't even know who they are anymore I do not think they are going to analyze their surroundings and critique the quality of the artificial plants
staropeace
I agree with you fully. If this setting gives one person, one smile than it was all worth it. This is a very calming
atmosphere in a controlled environment which is a win win situation. Alzheimer's people need this type of safety
as most wander and some are combative. It's a great idea.
The city I live in now has started a Help Line for elder abuse. Very necessary too, unfortunately, they receive
many calls in a shift. Reading and seeing what Staro had posted was a breath of fresh air.
Thanks Staro
Well, I'm going to put my 2 cents here ... I'll try to be brief, but I am stepping upon the soapbox....
This is a lovely place this gentleman designed, but from my reading its seems to be geared more towards assisted living patients, not total care patients, different situations.
I have worked as a CNA, Nurse, Manager, Director of Nursing and Nursing consultant in Rehab/long term care facilities for 16 years. I know there are some places I wouldn't keep a dog in, but with state and federal regulations, litigation and the internet, those aren't the norms anymore.
And Gentle if you are still seeing people
strapped in geri chairs, the facility should be reported, that is considered a restraint, this may have been the norm years ago, but it's not anymore, in fact the last 2 facilities I worked at didn't even use geri-chairs.
Now, what I am about to say is no excuse for bad care, but there are some harsh realities in rehab/long term care facilities.
1st being, there are no federal staffing ratios in these facilities. So you can have 40 patients to one nurse and 2 aides at night.... been there/ done that, you do the best you can, but can you provide tip top care... the answer is.... no you can't.
2nd, most of the bigger nursing homes are run by corporations that have bottom lines, their administrators/director of nurses have to staff according to their Patient Per Day ratio. So regardless of the acuity of their patients, they can only staff per what their corporate budget says they can.
3rd, the pendulem has swung so far in the opposite direction now, because conditions were so bad years ago, that state/federal regulations are to the point of ridiculous and theses regulations have to be "interpreted" like the tax codes. I have had state surveyors compare the size of ice cubes from different ice machines to check if they melt differently.... YES , I kid you not!!!! Sometimes these regulations mire the works, not help it....
4th, There are not nearly enough facilities that deal with behavioral patients and dependancy patients. Insurance and hospital networks dictate money that goes to nursing homes. The case managers have to play ball with the hospitals in order to get referrals to their nursing facilities. Meaning you have to take X amount of alcoholics, drug addicts, and especially behavioral patients along with your hip replacements and stroke patients in order for the hospitals to send patients your way. So I end up taking care of patients that were physically and chemically restrained in the hospital, that come to us, not on any medication and no restraints (nursing homes aren't allowed to use restraints) and these patients have serious behavioral and dependency issues. These patients take up the majority of staff time, and when you have 20 patients with one nurse/one aide all night long, it can be a challenge....
5th....lastly, pay scale. Staff in these facilities don't make as much as say a hospital staff worker. RN's are hard to come by .... they would rather work in a hospital making more money, better benefits and have 6 patients, who wouldn't? Aides make about 11-18 dollars/hr doing backbreaking work.... sometimes caring for 20 patients. So, it can be a challenge to get decent staff in nursing facilities. And, if you have some empty beds in your facility, management cuts staff, no matter how acute the rest of the patients are.... it happens all the time.
I have been blessed to work in good facilities, but even those can be trying at times...
I didn't mean to be so verbose, but I just wanted to enlighten folks about the other side of the coin concerning nursing homes and nursing care....
I would encourage anyone to take a tour of a facility, listen to how the staff interacts with the patients, you don't want a urine smell to hit you as you walk onto a unit, see if there are activities going on, look at the meals, does the staff seem helpful and friendly? Ask to see their most recent state survey, this book is kept at the front of EVERY nursing home facility. You can read what infractions they were sited for and their plan of correction.
...... stepping off soapbox now.....
This is a lovely place this gentleman designed, but from my reading its seems to be geared more towards assisted living patients, not total care patients, different situations.
I have worked as a CNA, Nurse, Manager, Director of Nursing and Nursing consultant in Rehab/long term care facilities for 16 years. I know there are some places I wouldn't keep a dog in, but with state and federal regulations, litigation and the internet, those aren't the norms anymore.
And Gentle if you are still seeing people
strapped in geri chairs, the facility should be reported, that is considered a restraint, this may have been the norm years ago, but it's not anymore, in fact the last 2 facilities I worked at didn't even use geri-chairs.
Now, what I am about to say is no excuse for bad care, but there are some harsh realities in rehab/long term care facilities.
1st being, there are no federal staffing ratios in these facilities. So you can have 40 patients to one nurse and 2 aides at night.... been there/ done that, you do the best you can, but can you provide tip top care... the answer is.... no you can't.
2nd, most of the bigger nursing homes are run by corporations that have bottom lines, their administrators/director of nurses have to staff according to their Patient Per Day ratio. So regardless of the acuity of their patients, they can only staff per what their corporate budget says they can.
3rd, the pendulem has swung so far in the opposite direction now, because conditions were so bad years ago, that state/federal regulations are to the point of ridiculous and theses regulations have to be "interpreted" like the tax codes. I have had state surveyors compare the size of ice cubes from different ice machines to check if they melt differently.... YES , I kid you not!!!! Sometimes these regulations mire the works, not help it....
4th, There are not nearly enough facilities that deal with behavioral patients and dependancy patients. Insurance and hospital networks dictate money that goes to nursing homes. The case managers have to play ball with the hospitals in order to get referrals to their nursing facilities. Meaning you have to take X amount of alcoholics, drug addicts, and especially behavioral patients along with your hip replacements and stroke patients in order for the hospitals to send patients your way. So I end up taking care of patients that were physically and chemically restrained in the hospital, that come to us, not on any medication and no restraints (nursing homes aren't allowed to use restraints) and these patients have serious behavioral and dependency issues. These patients take up the majority of staff time, and when you have 20 patients with one nurse/one aide all night long, it can be a challenge....
5th....lastly, pay scale. Staff in these facilities don't make as much as say a hospital staff worker. RN's are hard to come by .... they would rather work in a hospital making more money, better benefits and have 6 patients, who wouldn't? Aides make about 11-18 dollars/hr doing backbreaking work.... sometimes caring for 20 patients. So, it can be a challenge to get decent staff in nursing facilities. And, if you have some empty beds in your facility, management cuts staff, no matter how acute the rest of the patients are.... it happens all the time.
I have been blessed to work in good facilities, but even those can be trying at times...
I didn't mean to be so verbose, but I just wanted to enlighten folks about the other side of the coin concerning nursing homes and nursing care....
I would encourage anyone to take a tour of a facility, listen to how the staff interacts with the patients, you don't want a urine smell to hit you as you walk onto a unit, see if there are activities going on, look at the meals, does the staff seem helpful and friendly? Ask to see their most recent state survey, this book is kept at the front of EVERY nursing home facility. You can read what infractions they were sited for and their plan of correction.
...... stepping off soapbox now.....
...she speaketh correctly and wisely...