They get good care there

The New York Times has a blog entitled “the New Old Age.” Today’s posting, entitled, “A Beep in the Night”, recounts a daughter’s experiences with her mother during her mother’s last months. The column begins with the writer’s mother mimicking the doctors saying, “She’s confused; she’s confused.” That observation followed the mother’s awakening in her hospital bed at 3 a.m. and asking for coffee. “How hard could it be for someone to bring some decaf?” an aide says to the daughter.

The daughter, a physician herself, responds to this incident by taking every effort to assure that she is called at any time that her mother has any problem or is confused.

The column is a touchingly poignant account of a daughter’s solicitude for her mother at a time when her mother was so dependent on others. Reading the article brought to mind a phrase I often hear about nursing homes – spoken often – in a positive way – by people who have friends or family in the particular nursing home spoken of. “They get good care there.”

Of course we wouldn’t want any less for anyone we know, anyone we love, who is in a nursing home. We hope for and expect good nursing practices. What always gives me pause when I hear that phrase is another phrase: “Life is more than ‘care.’” Life is more than attention to the physical body. Life is about relationships,home,choice,respect, dignity,privacy, continuity of exercising preferences in daily life insofar as possible.

It is precisely these latter values that transformational culture change attempts to bring to life for residents in nursing homes. It is what “Culture Change” is all about. It’s putting the person before the task.

For more information on this transformational, humane movement to change the culture of aging and aging services, go to:

Pioneer Network
Culture Change Now
To read Dr. Feld’s post, go to A Beep in the Night