Re: nursing home/hospitals

[Guest guest]

elliott,

i know there are bad apples in every group but there are also good apples. if i

had given up on nh facilities with skilled care like phyiscal therapy, speech

therapy and occupational therapy all of which daddy needed, after the negligence

of the first (the first nh facility the cna was in denial that daddy was in deep

respiratory distress and if it wasnt for sissy and donnie just happening ot be

there i would have lost daddy sooner), and then seeing how the nh staff took

care of sissys grandmother and aloso how they communicated to sissy i am glad

that daddy was there in his final hours. again i want to thank everyone from

Rosewood Manor. hugs, sharon m

Date: 2005/10/14 Fri PM 10:45:38 EDT

To: LBDcaregivers

Subject: Re: A mew policy

a smile a day, keeps the meanies away!!!!

[Guest guest]

Hi, Sharon.

Yes, no doubt nursing institutions can be okay, but one must ALWAYS

keep a VERY VIGILANT EYE ON THEM. A rule of thumb is that those

clients whose families visit most and who are most involved get the

best treatment. Also, there are bad apples and good apples, but

mostly indifferent apples. Hospitals and institutions tend to do that

to people---make them mostly indifferent. (By the way, I spell my

name with only one " t. " :+) )

Elliot

>

> elliott,

>

> i know there are bad apples in every group but there are also good

apples. if i had given up on nh facilities with skilled care like

phyiscal therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy all of

which daddy needed, after the negligence of the first (the first nh

facility the cna was in denial that daddy was in deep respiratory

distress and if it wasnt for sissy and donnie just happening ot be

there i would have lost daddy sooner), and then seeing how the nh

staff took care of sissys grandmother and aloso how they communicated

to sissy i am glad that daddy was there in his final hours. again i

want to thank everyone from Rosewood Manor. hugs, sharon m

> Date: 2005/10/14 Fri PM 10:45:38 EDT

> To: LBDcaregivers

> Subject: Re: A mew policy

>

>

> a smile a day, keeps the meanies away!!!!

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, Sharon.

First let me say that there is, or at least ought to be, a very BIG

difference between a nursing institution caring for people with

dementia and a psychiatric institution caring for people with

psychosis.

One of those differences is between the therapies given. Whereas in a

psychiatric institution, I view the therapies offered as being

largely useless---something mainly to keep the " inmates " busy and out

of the way of the staff---the therapies offered in a nursing

institution---physical, speech and occupational---are rehabilitative,

and can have a pronounced effect on the well being and the

functioning of the clients.

Last year, my mother had an operation while visiting me, and she

spent a couple of weeks in a nursing facility near me in order to get

back to where she was physically before the operation. Though she was

put in a double room with a woman who shouted and moaned all night, I

believe the place did her some significant good. The staff got her

first to start sitting up in bed, and then got her to where she was

able to stand up, with help, and get herself into her wheelchair.

Once she was able to do that again, she was able to go out in the car

again, to doctors' offices and also to restaurants and other outings.

With regard to " bad apples " and " good apples, " I know there are

those. But mostly, in institutions, there are more or less

indifferent apples, and it is my experience that clients whose

families spend the most time with them, and who involve themselves

most with their family member's care, do the best, because nearly

always the staff has more to do than it can handle, so that clients

who have no one to advocate for them unfortunately get the least

attention.

(By the way, I spell my name with only one " t. " :+))

Blessed wishes,

Elliot

>

> elliott,

>

> i know there are bad apples in every group but there are also good

apples. if i had given up on nh facilities with skilled care like

phyiscal therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy all of

which daddy needed, after the negligence of the first (the first nh

facility the cna was in denial that daddy was in deep respiratory

distress and if it wasnt for sissy and donnie just happening ot be

there i would have lost daddy sooner), and then seeing how the nh

staff took care of sissys grandmother and aloso how they communicated

to sissy i am glad that daddy was there in his final hours. again i

want to thank everyone from Rosewood Manor. hugs, sharon m

> Date: 2005/10/14 Fri PM 10:45:38 EDT

> To: LBDcaregivers

> Subject: Re: A mew policy

>

>

> a smile a day, keeps the meanies away!!!!

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, Sharon.

I replied to your message this morning. Don't know what happened to

it. Yahoo lost it somewhere, I guess.

I think, Sharon, that at institutions, there are a few bad apples,

some good apples, and mostly indifferent apples. Hospitals and

institutions do that to people. They become jaded and they give in

to " the system. " What is surprising, as Lawrence LeShan said, is that

there remain some good ones who do not become indifferent.

Nevertheless, the people who get the best care at a hospital or an

institution are the people who have at least one person to advocate

for them.

With regard to therapy, you nailed a HUGE difference between a psych

ward and a nursing institution. The therapies in a psych ward---

music " therapy, " , cooking " therapy, " " current events, " " group "

therapy, etc, do little to change the clients, and are conducted as

much to keep the clients out of the way of the staff, and to pass the

time, as anything else.

Therapy in a nursing institution, on the other hand, can very

significantly help the clients. When my mother visited me a year or

so ago, she had to have emergency hernia surgery, and subsequent to

that, she spent a couple of weeks in a local nursing home, where,

though she was put in a room with a woman who shouted and moaned all

night, she was given useful therapy to get her first to sit up in

bed, then to get out of bed and use the commode, and then to get out

of bed and into her wheel chair. Once she was able to do that, she

was able to come home and join my wife and me at the dinner table,

and to go outside and take car rides to restaurants and other places.

Rehabilitative therapy can be done at home, but for some people, at

least, it is better done at a nursing facility, where there is a

schedule, where there is access to equipment not necessarily

available at home, AND where there is the GOAL of GETTING OUT of the

nursing facility upon successful completion of the therapy!

I appreciated your comment about Sissy and Donny " just happening to

be there. " It's a case in point that it is VERY IMPORTANT to have

SOMEONE THERE as often as possible.

(By the way, my name is " Elliot " with one " t " . :+) )

Elliot

>

> elliott,

>

> i know there are bad apples in every group but there are also good

apples. if i had given up on nh facilities with skilled care like

phyiscal therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy all of

which daddy needed, after the negligence of the first (the first nh

facility the cna was in denial that daddy was in deep respiratory

distress and if it wasnt for sissy and donnie just happening ot be

there i would have lost daddy sooner), and then seeing how the nh

staff took care of sissys grandmother and aloso how they communicated

to sissy i am glad that daddy was there in his final hours. again i

want to thank everyone from Rosewood Manor. hugs, sharon m

> Date: 2005/10/14 Fri PM 10:45:38 EDT

> To: LBDcaregivers

> Subject: Re: A mew policy

>

>

> a smile a day, keeps the meanies away!!!!

>

>

>