So you won’t have to
- We help remove obstacles to older parents’ safety and independence even if they’re not local.Subscribe now and get a detailed report on your folks’ county to help locate and evaluate senior assistance services.
Nearly 80% of family caregivers are finding the caregiving experience emotionally rewarding, despite initial negative perceptions of caregiving, according to a nationwide survey by Caring Today magazine.
Published in conjunction with National Family Caregivers Month this past November, the Caring Today survey shows that caregivers have distinctly more positive feelings after caring for a family member than they did as they were about to take on the responsibility. The number of caregivers finding the experience highly rewarding jumped by 50% following the caregiving experience.
Knowing which nursing homes are bad can be valuable information for a family seeking long-term care for an elderly loved one but concerned about issues like nursing home abuse and neglect. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the names of 54 nursing homes that had ranked as one of the worst in their state. Proper administration of medication to patients, appropriate assistance with activities of daily life and concern for the prevention of malnutrition and dehydration are examples of what inspectors look for in nursing homes. Inspectors also look for signs of nursing home abuse and neglect such as failure to maintain resident safety and prevent accidents, such as falls, infections, bed sores and other problems elderly people are susceptible to.
The list published by CMS containing the names of 54 nursing homes is actually a sample of 128 "special focus facilities", or homes that were identified as in need of more oversight. CMS says that the rest of the facilities were not identified because during the six months after being titled a "focus facility" they showed improvement. Democratic legislators, however, are demanding that all of the names be released in order to protect nursing home residents. Most nursing homes have around 6-7 deficiencies identified during inspection, but the ones on the list had twice as many or more. Unfortunately, no national standard has been set for the investigations so each state has its own parameters. An Illinois nursing home can be considered in terrible condition, but would not qualify in another state. A bill was recently introduced in the legislature to make it mandatory for CMS to publish all of the names, but the issue of discrepancies between states' standards is an issue that should be addressed by congress.
A 38 year old male had suffered severe brain damage, slipped into in a deep coma, and a year after receded into a minimally conscious state. The patient was non verbal, was fed and kept alive through tubes in a long term care facility. Six years later, despite the large amount of damage to the cortex, imaging results showed that some parts of the brain were still functioning. This led a team of neurosurgeons to believe that they would be able to improve the patient’s state through manual stimulation of those undamaged parts of his brain. Upon examination at the time of enrollment, the patient was able to move his eyes sideways (but not up and down), and the rest of his body was out of conscious control.
The results were dramatic – within 48 hours post surgery the patient was able to respond to noise stimuli by turning his head towards the source of the voice. Further, he was able to keep his eyes open for a sustained period of time on his own, as well as move his limbs. Within 50 days with continued stimulation, he was able to bring a cup to his mouth, swallow food, thus becoming independent of his feeding tube.
The patient continued to improve after the experimental phase was over, and eventually was able to put together up to six words to express himself vocally. The cost of care for this patient has since reduced significantly, since he is no longer on a feeding tube and can feed himself manually three times a day.
A report issued by the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care warns of a coming long-term care crisis and includes recommendations to advance long-term care reform in four areas: quality, workforce, technology and finance.
As Home Instead’s The BUZZ continues its look at this report, entitled “Isolation to Integration: Recommendations to Improve Quality in Long-Term Care,” today’s article details recommendations regarding quality. Highlights of the commission’s 26 recommendations include:
· A critical part of long-term care quality is the individual’s quality of life. Giving individuals more choice and control over the services they receive in the settings of their choice will enhance their quality of life;