Many nursing homes are hell holes. Be grateful if you die before you need one.
Filth, stink, abuse, careless inattention, secret records, avaricious owners, sky high prices, lousy meals.
The government rates these places. You want a reason -- or another reason -- to mistrust or even hate the government, tour some of these so- called homes… and limit your tours to those with five star ratings… the top level.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid keep watch. Here’s how: No one audits the care quality figures. Inspections -- if they happen at all -- happen so rarely, they become meaningless.
Five grand a month is a pretty common figure for storing granny. And she can kiss her assets goodbye … her life savings, her retirement income her house and her independence too.
Lies, and more lies: “Our staffing levels exceed recommendations…” “Our nutritionists all are graduates of culinary or other accredited schools.” “Our rehab ‘specialists’ love their patients.” “Medical attention is available 24/7/365.” (The on-call doc will be from India, but don’t expect someone you can understand as well as Sanjay Gupta.) “Our floors, walls and common areas are sparkling clean, kept so by a large staff of full time housekeeping professionals.” “Hablamos Ingles.”
When they say they offer religious services of all major faiths, they mean Presbyterian, Baptist and Lutheran,” not “Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist.”
“Diverse population” means Jamal Johnson, 97, known as “JJ” and who is a favorite with the ladies because they all have the same hallucinations at the same time. And there’s Concetta Maria Yadira Valtina Diaz-Lopez who hasn’t said a word since 1983. Two minorities out of a population of… well, we don’t know how many because no one has counted and no one but the bookkeeper has access to accounts receivable.
People burn to death (Jacksonville area) or freeze to death (Brooklyn) or fall to death (Hamden CT) or are ignored to death (Minneapolis.)
If you want to die in a warehouse there are plenty of places to rent where you can be ignored, burned or frozen for much less than the cost of a month at Shady Acres.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2015
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