Local Nursing Homes Closings Due to Staffing Problems

[whereiwant2b]

www.times-standard.com/general-news/20160812/local-nursing-homes-may-close-down-due-to-staffing

The lack of health care staff is a pervasive issue in several branches of the medical industry throughout Humboldt County and other rural communities. Fregeau said that nursing homes are no longer like they were 25 years ago; they are no longer just used by the elderly, but have a variety of patients including those with mental illnesses.

“The nursing homes of those days are gone and that requires a certain kind of person to work in them,” Fregeau said. “You don’t want to work with someone that is punching or spitting at you and have to stay nice. But that’s the reality of the patients that we have."

It's a difficult job to staff but in our area is seemingly impossible. They are caught between regulated standards of care and Medicaid funding limits. The nursing home owner tried to give away their business but found no takers.

It's another consequence of the widespread closing of mental institutions, politicians refusing to fund the ugly necessities of life, and public turning a blind eye to the issue that only effects people jot able to gain media attention.

[gapeach]

Aug 13, 2016 13:49:34 GMT whereiwant2b said:

www.times-standard.com/general-news/20160812/local-nursing-homes-may-close-down-due-to-staffing

The lack of health care staff is a pervasive issue in several branches of the medical industry throughout Humboldt County and other rural communities. Fregeau said that nursing homes are no longer like they were 25 years ago; they are no longer just used by the elderly, but have a variety of patients including those with mental illnesses.

“The nursing homes of those days are gone and that requires a certain kind of person to work in them,” Fregeau said. “You don’t want to work with someone that is punching or spitting at you and have to stay nice. But that’s the reality of the patients that we have."

It's a difficult job to staff but in our area is seemingly impossible. They are caught between regulated standards of care and Medicaid funding limits. The nursing home owner tried to give away their business but found no takers.

It's another consequence of the widespread closing of mental institutions, politicians refusing to fund the ugly necessities of life, and public turning a blind eye to the issue that only effects people jot able to gain media attention.

[gapeach]

We have the same problem here.  Several nursing homes have been trying to sell, there were no buyers so the State closed them down.  It was very sad because the residents really had nowhere to go and were so upset as you can imagine.   The pay scale for workers is very low and is a very hard job.   I just lost a very elderly friend who had been neglected at a nursing home.  She was 92 and had one son who was disabled.  He reported the nursing home for failing to take care of her and she was taken to the hospital but was in very bad shape.  Once she was evaluated she was sent to Hospice where she died a week later.   I wondered if it was like this in other places.

[whereiwant2b]

I think it made it into the local news because the difficulties in hiring is used by pro free immigration advocates as reasons why basically unlimited immigration is needed. To fill those jobs that "Americans won't do." Well, Americans won't do it because government regulates that nursing homes must take mentally ill people in order to get Medicaid funding, thereby making it necessary for a certain level of certification and making the work unpleasant, but then limiting Medicaid reimbursement to a level that only those with no other options will accept the pay under those mandated conditions.

[gapeach]

My friend who died was very dirty and could not eat by herself. She talked but could not be understood. She did not recognize her son or friends who had known her for a very long time. The nursing home had closed her visitors down to only her son. I sure hope that they were reported by inspectors who were called. She obviously had no mental capacities left. It is just so sad that a human being is treated that way.

[whereiwant2b]

Yet Medicaid's requirements (at least here in California) require that nursing homes take patients that are not manageable with a mental health certification. So this makes a place the State can send such people at a smaller cost to them but forces them into a population of elderly that would not cause such problems and causes it to be difficult to hire people who could adequately care for them at the price the government will cover.

[joebill]

My guess, only a guess, is that the folks who are trained to do this work well are hiring out privately to do in home care, away from the problem folks, including the government. I know of one such case. The young lady can make more per hour in the elderly person's home, deals only with the person and the family, works much less hours for more money. THAT is why staffing nursing homes is a problem.

Let's hear it, once again, for self employment. I know that not everybody can afford to pay out of pocket, and that's a shame, but no reason why those who CAN afford it shouldn't.

As for me, I'd much rather die of exposure to the elements than exposure to idiots, so I'm not going to go to a nursing home. EVER. The person with my medical power of attorney has agreed to give me a 24 hour head start into the desert before reporting me missing....Joe

[themotherhen]

The nursing home that my Grandma lives in recently cut half of their nursing assistants. My Aunt works there as a nurse and they take really good care of the residents there. The nursing assistants each give two hours extra time, with no pay, to help fill in the gaps. It is a small nursing home in southern Ohio.
There are some places that are dreadful, really horrid, that damages and neglects people, but there are a few good places out there too. It has to do with the response from staff, so it depends on their hearts.
The way that the people who care for the young and the old are compensated speaks to the ethics of the country. The vulnerable in our country are not respected and loved as they should be, and that is a shame.

[joebill]

My mother was in one for a time around age 87, with a broken arm and a lot of trouble with her legs. T hey were giving her pt until she could get around on her own. She asked for a radio, protable, tuned to the strongest station, which seemed kind of strange, but no explanation forthcoming.

Finally my sister asked her if she didn't want to try some other stations, but she siad "NO", so my sister finally got an explanation. Middle of the night, she needed help getting to the bathroom, the staff would ignore the signal and sit around playing cards or whatever. Let the morning staff clean everybody up.

She'd turn on the radio and start slowly cranking up the volume. About the time it started shaking the windows and waking other people up, somebody would come running in and help her. She liked handling problem people on her own....Joe

[whereiwant2b]

Unfortunately, ending up in a nursing home is not often a voluntary thing. My mother fell on the concrete steps in front of her home and hit her head. It lead to a bleed, brain damage and she went from the hospital to a nursing home. She did never left. If she had been able to make another choice she would have. Something similar happened to my father.

It seems a tendency of hospitals to move patients without a good chance of recovery to nursing homes asap. Only without telling the family that. I thought that my father would get better- not that I was asked what I thought anyway. But I knew after the experience with my father that when my mother moved into a nusing home, she was unlikely to come out. And there was nothing I could do about it anyway.

[themotherhen]

Some of the nursing homes remind me of those old Russian orphanages. Death from "failure to thrive" was common.