A New Nursing Home Population: The Young It's cheaper to keep someone at home with aides, but now the trend has been to institutionalize people in nursing homes. This articles says a full 14% are ending up in nursing homes. With so many cuts being made to programs that help the disabled [while they still pour trillions into useless Middle Eastern wars], many people are finding making it on their own to harder and harder. It's not just the wheelchair bound but those struggling with severe obesity too. I had a close friend, who ended up in the nursing home, so I know what those places are like, especially if you are poor and destitute, it is not a pretty picture. The wealthy can afford apartments where the nurses and aides come in--assisted living, but the poor end up in an 8x10 room with a roommate included. My friend told me, that much of the population of her nursing home were younger severely obese people who could not take care of themselves out in the world. The nursing home associations themselves are discussing this issue. The disability advocacy organizations are warning about the new trend towards shoving people into nursing homes, some young people given the right supports are able to live independently. Every severely obese person does worry about the nursing home, one broken leg, any condition that precludes walking, the nursing home can be a fate worse then prison. If I was not married, I could easily be in a nursing home right now and two years ago, I was in even poorer health. It is a somewhat frightening thought. Some of the homes are run nicer then others, the small town non-profit ones are usually nicer then ones ran as holding tanks for some corporation to make money.
No comments:
Post a Comment