Visited Mom's old facility..
Calendar
showed three days of "Seated Activities".
Sit. Stay. Good resident.
It's a Dog's Life for many.
All the "activities" in the lower level Activity Room are board games and "sit down" games, or Seniors can visit the resident cat and now the resident rabbit who takes up a major part
of the room in a cage.
You can watch the resident dog as he waddles here and there.
He's quite old now. Just like many of the others living here.
Great to have animals around but where are the spaces for Adult Movement
Activities?
Oh,
that's right. they have the "dining area".
Just move aside the chairs
and tables.
They can't? Well, someone will .... when they have time ... or when
they "think" to "organize" a "class".
Where can residents "work out"?
They need a medical script requiring Physical Therapy.
This is a Long Term Care Facility.
By
law, in most states, it's a "medical facility".
They have
"their own" medical staffs although not consistently.
The residents are considered
"patients".
Distribution of "meds" is a daily routine.
Many arrive with a few and soon have multiple.
No one counts the number of "mind numbing" and "life slowing"
medicines given to "keep Mom and Dad moving slowly".
Easier to control and manage by low staff levels.
Interesting how we believe movement is key to continued good health and
then we "lock up" parts of our society and take away any and all real
physical activity believing they will fall, they will have problems they cannot
and will not ..... etc.
Staffing costs money that eats into profits for the "investors".
This is not a "service", it's an "investment" requiring positive returns.
Where's the library with books and computers? There is none.
A few books are displayed in the "living room" on a shelf.
Decorations mostly, across from the "entry desk" in sight of "friends and relatives" arriving and departing.
Safety and Security? That requires staffing and additional cost.
Walk right in. Go wherever you want.
People are supposed to check-in but that's seldom what happens.
Often without personnel so anyone can "get in".
One book where people sign in and out with times.
No tracking of who's visiting to see who comes and goes.
The only computer is in a room reserved for "staff meetings", "family" conferences and occassionally reserved for a resident's birthday with family/friends.
The computer is "out of bounds".
Not to be used or touched except by staff.
Residents are seen as "too old" to use "technological
equipment".
Facilities practice the old saying:
"You can't teach an "old" dog "new" tricks.
Question: If a two year old can use a cell phone to play games and explore why can't an eighty two year old do the same?
Provide one for Mom/Dad? Unfortunately theft is also high.
At Mom's old facility, anything that involves some or more involvement by staff
just isn't "feasible", isn't considered or is
negatively presented.
Depending on the medical conditions and judging from the few people who use
the "Main Dining Room", it's a handful who can get into the
area since all use walkers or wheelchairs.
Wheelchairs that need someone to push or movement of huge wheels keep people from "exploring" or as the facility says, "wandering'.
Once in a while the local "book mobile" comes by.
It parks outside.
You have to be mobile to visit.
It requires a "step up" which few can do.
Doesn't anyone think about these "barriers"?
In
the "fireplace room" just off the reception area where there's a
couch, some chairs and where some residents and many "visitors" spend
time especially when the weather isn't good for going outside, the low seating couches and chairs require assistance by a second person and are seldom used by residents.
Instead, they sit in wheelchairs.
Moved from place to place.
Few with strength to "move the large wheels.
There they sit for hours on end.
Oh, and there are "favorites".
Usually women who "join projects" or show participation.
My friend, Carol was one for a very long time.
She "posed" for pictures showing the "social times" and promoting the facility to the outside world.
There are two
bookcases with donated books.
A few are Large Print.
I've only seen a handful of residents ask about the books.
Most probably don't realize they could ask to read them.
They look like decoration, not for reading.
Magazines? NO. Newspapers. NO.
It's assumed at Long Term Care Facilities that the residents are beyond the
ability to move except with a walker.
Almost all use wheelchairs or Gerry
Chairs (where they sit/lay and have little attention).
They enter the facility walking and quickly realize, like children, they do what they're told, how and when they're told not asking questions.
There are three levels of "Senior Living" -- Independent,
Assisted and Long Term Care in Missouri but only one, Long Term Care qualifies to have Medicaid beds.
Long Term Care is defined in Missouri as needing certain amounts and levels of
"personal assistance in daily life" and there are qualifications regarding ability to move independently that can disqualify a person from LTC.
Upstairs, on the third floor, a TV is turned on.
Some sit and watch. Others sit and stare.
Staff "chose" what's on TV and sometimes that choice isn't a good one
for those with memory loss, sight problems, hearing problems or who may be
experiencing mental processing challenges.
For the Staff, it's a great way
to have your afternoon soap opera and work while watching.
There is little or no
stimulation, activity, exercise that really moves the body and the mind.
Only those who are "mobile" on their own or who are a "favorite" get to the "lower level" activities.
Do you go to a Gym? Do you workout? Do you walk or swim?
We're told every day how important walking and movement are, how challenged our bodies become including the internal organs when we sit all day.
So what do we do in Long Term Care?
We treat movement as dangerous. We slow down the body and cause more challenges as we practice lethargy rather than encourage movement. But....that would mean more staff....more expense...and there are no rewards for lifestyle improvement in Long Term Care Facilities from Insurance companies as there is in the "real world".
We take away "hazardous" walkers. Why not invent safer ones?
THERE! Yes, you Entreprenuers and Small Business people. The market is out there; the need is growing every day.
Invent. Create & above all CARE about those who are where YOU will be .. sooner than you think.
