Nursing homes are a profound failure in providing optimum care for our most fragile and vulnerable citizens. We have learned some lessons from the CV-19 pandemic lock down and we are still learning. It will take years for us in the helping professions to address these shortfalls and take corrective action. Not just the profound number of deaths related to the pandemic, but the old-fashioned and outdated asylum model of care where our vulnerable are warehoused.
As a scientist and researcher, I scour scholarly publications for topics related to aging and then summarize them for my readers. Today, I found a treasure, forwarded to me from the American Society on Aging. It is a special report from Altarum, a nonprofit research and consulting firm. Their mission is to identify and find solutions for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. As a minimum, read the first twenty pages of this report. Then, read about the Green House Project (GHP), an innovative and humanizing model of small-scale, self-contained, and non-institutional elder care homes. As a reminder, people residing in nursing homes require 24/7 care. Please do not confuse them with residents of assisted living or other long term care settings. Nursing home residents cannot be cared for by their families because they need skilled care around the clock.
Despite the scientific limitations of the Altarum report, it is a compelling body of work. It will never appear in a scholarly journal but maybe that’s a good thing: More people will have access to it and read it. While this was not a scientific study following scholarly protocols and was not blind peer-reviewed for journal publication, the voices of the residents shined through. Their feelings and frustrations with the CV-19 lockdown were candid and frank. Respondents included 365 people residing in nursing homes in the United States representing thirty-six states. The survey, created by the authors, presents another limitation in the validation of the findings. Essentially, this is targeted market research. However, they used a truncated methodology of open-ended questions, closed-ended questions answerable with a yes or no, and Likert (scaled) questions, which enhanced validity. The surveys were disseminated online and passed to residents via friends, family, and nursing home staff, then submitted to the Altarum researchers and analysts. Demographics related to age, gender, and race were not obtained. It is important to note that 35% of nursing home residents are UNDER age sixty-five, so please remember that not all residents are old. Nonetheless, the Altarum special report is thorough and impressive.
References:The Green House Project. Who We Are. (2020) https://www.thegreenhouseproject.org/about/visionmission
Montgomery, A., Slocum, S., & Stank, C. (October 2020). Experiences of nursing home residents during the pandemic. Altarum Special Report. Published online https://altarum.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-publication-files/Nursing-Home-Resident-Survey_Altarum-Special-Report_FINAL.pdf
Schnurer, E.B. (August 3, 2020). Why are insane asylums the model for human services? Editorial/Opinion. Governing. Retrieved from https://www.governing.com/now/Why-Are-Insane-Asylums-the-Model-for-Human-Services.html
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