| My Grandma’s Nursing Home Care |
| by John M. Smith, Executive Director Egyptian Area Agency on Aging |
My grandma was eighty-eight when she moved into a nursing home for the last
six years of her life. People around her in her community had become “too fast”
for her to handle and continue living at home. Moving into a nursing home seemed
like the best option for her at the time.
The nursing home she chose was a nice one by the standards of the day. The facility was clean and the staff were nice to her. It wasn’t “her home,” however.
When I asked grandma about her daily life in the nursing home, her answers were usually short and to the point, such as “its okay,” or “it’s a place to live.”
I stayed with her for the evening meal one day. It consisted of macaroni and cheese, green beans, applesauce, and a dessert. Nutritious to be sure, but not exciting.
When grandma lived at home she liked to wake up early and have a cup of coffee with toast. Coffee and toast wasn’t on her doctor ordered diet in the nursing home.
After having her coffee and toast while at home, grandma liked to bathe and get dressed for the day. Her scheduled shower time in the nursing home was on Tuesdays and Saturdays, not every day after breakfast.
While at home grandma often spent her days making hand-quilted blankets. She would use the big room in the front of her house to spread out her work. The blankets were so large that they’d take up the entire room. The nursing home didn’t have a room big enough for grandma’s quilts even if they’d let her use it to spread out her work.
Even though it was a very nice nursing home, it wasn’t grandma’s home, and it wasn’t “homelike” to her. She struggled to make the best of it, though because that was all that was offered in her day.
Today, making nursing homes more homelike with care that is centered on the resident’s individual choices is a lofty goal many facilities are undertaking. We call this “Pioneering” or “Culture Change.” It helps nursing homes become a lot less like an institution and a lot more like a home.
Grandma, and grandpa, raised a family and helped contribute to their community. In the nursing home, grandma didn’t have the same opportunity to contribute to her community while there. Everything was done for her.
Our parents and grandparents have given us our heritage. They built the communities we live in and laid the foundation of the life we live today. I think it’s time we give them a chance to continue to contribute in their later years, even in a nursing home.
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