Remember seniors this holiday season
An excerpt from a plea to remember the isolated seniors in our communitites:
In southeastern Michigan, in about 300 licensed long-term carefacilities and in countless unlicensed and unregulated facilities,thousands of seniors who are mothers and fathers, grandmothers andgrandfathers will be forgotten — and in too many cases, neglected orabused. Some, left for months with little or no stimulation or who havebeen overmedicated to keep them quiet, will slip deeper into dementia. This forgotten phenomenon is of great concern to those of us who valueour aging population and who advocate on their behalf. We continue tobe shocked at the neglect and abuse that continues in nursing homes,homes for the aged and foster-care facilities for seniors. Our community should be deeply concerned about the staffing ratio inlong-term care facilities; often they carry a 1-to-12 ratio of staff toresidents. More often than not, staff members are not tending toresidents’ most-personal needs, such as changing soiled undergarments,providing comforting baths or tending to open bedsores. Many times,residents who cannot feed themselves will go hungry.
During the holiday season, many of us will be overcome with the givingspirit — the urge to find another human being to help. Often, we aredrawn to the faces of children. But this year, perhaps we should focus at least part of our attentionon the forgotten population. We should make the mental leap andconsider the volume of baby boomers who will be considering long-termcare in the near future. Will there be adequate facilities? Willstaffing laws be changed to better meet the needs of individuals whocannot help themselves?
Take a moment to visit a senior whose family is no longer valuing thegift of age. Consider spending an hour every other week simply readingto a nursing home resident, or call your grandmother or grandfather tothank them for all that they have done. Equally important, begin to advocate for change in laws now designed tominimally protect the most vulnerable in our society and generouslyline the pockets of corporations that have begun to purchase dozens ofnursing homes. We can fix what is happening in these long-term care facilities. We cando it for the seniors who live in these facilities today, or for thebaby boomers who will be living there tomorrow.
Source/full commentary: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071211/OPINION02/712110325/1070