Nursing homes must adjust to more generations. People may live to be older, but that doesn't mean everyone is healthier. Thus nursing homes are experiencing what I call a "culture clash."
The generation that researchers term the "very old," those over 80 and more likely to be in a nursing home environment, are those who grew up during the great depression. They are apt to be conservative in their outlook, more frail because of their age, and have a preference for "farm meals," country stores and polkas or big band music.
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Because health issues also affect people in their 60s and 70s, however, a quick look around a nursing home will soon remind you that there is a generation here that maybe would prefer rock and roll, gourmet coffee and computers rather than the old pot-bellied stove atmosphere. Already we are seeing the old standby bingo for entertainment joined by Wii bowling and other hi-tech entertainment. Large plasma TV screens reflect the modern view. Boomers are becoming part of the nursing home population, and with them is coming change.
Technical advances provide a safer environment
Advances in technology have provided nursing homes with monitoring devices to alert staff when a resident is attempting something that could be dangerous, which includes anything from standing up without assistance to trying to enter a stairwell.
Much of the technology is more subtle now than in the past, which helps create a calm, more home-like atmosphere. Instead of hospital beeps and blaring microphones, quiet pagers and ear pieces allow communication to be less disturbing to residents. Cameras can be used when necessary and monitored by a computer, medical records and doctor's orders are computerized, beds can be rigged with alarms that are quiet to the elder, but still alert the staff if someone needs help.
When used improperly used, just like drugs, technology can be misused to replace human care if watchful, caring people aren't monitoring its use. Human hands are still the primary care need. But used well, technology can be a boon to the safety of elders.
Good nursing homes are totally different from the model of the '50s, which was to keep people safe and quiet until they died. Now, well-run centers provide hands-on human touch, lots of activities and care directed toward the individual. Are there still some of the old-style homes around? Yes, far too many.
Activists in the form of the Pioneer Network, families of those in nursing homes and Boomers who one day may be in a nursing home, are all working toward the day when of the old "warehouse" model of nursing home is wiped off the planet. It's going to be awhile before that happens, but culture change in nursing homes is evident in most areas, and homes that don't catch up will, hopefully, find themselves out of business.
Elder care author, columnist and speaker Carol Bradley Bursack is an AgingCare.com contributing editor and moderator of the
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