US News and World Report writes often about nursing home-related issues. Angela Haupt is Assistant Managing Editor of Health at U.S. News and has written a series of such articles around "Activities" in nursing homes. I read one such article this morning in which she noted pet therapy and therapeutic cooking in some nursing homes as examples of innovative "activities". I responded to Angela and share that letter here.
Dear Angela,
Thank you for your articles on some of the wonderful things happening in nursing homes to make life better for those who live there and who work there. Because our choice and use of words is so important, I am asking you to reconsider your use of the words "therapy" and "therapeutic" when referencing activities in a nursing home. When one refers to pet therapy or to therapeutic cooking, it medicalizes a normal human activity.
If I may expand, a little -- when I sit down in the evening after a hard day's work, and my cat jumps into my lap, there is a rush of endorphins and my blood pressure goes down. I am content and serene and it shows on my face. Yet, the next morning at work I never say to my peers that I engaged in pet therapy the previous evening (!)
The same is true for other activities. Sometimes I go into the kitchen and cook or bake something just for the pure pleasure and sense of relaxation it gives me. Yet,when I share those cookies, for example, I never share them as the result of "therapeutic cooking".
Medicalizing events in a nursing home reduces elders to their medical conditions. I know that was never your intention, and that you most assuredly learned these terms in the very nursing homes that are engaged in these innovative enrichment events. Your pen is so powerful, Angela. I trust that you will continue to use it to transform the culture of every nursing home in our country. Thank you!
Imelda Maurer, LNHA
