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Nursing Home 101: A Daughter's Perspective
Ruthie Rosauer and her sister were abruptly thrust into the world of nursing homes when a hospital social worker gave them less than twenty-four hours to find placement for their elderly mother. Thus began their daunting journey of finding a facility, and navigating end-of-life-related paperwork, dental care, staff, hospice, and every other detail individuals must face when seeking long-term care for their loved-ones. In this book, Ruthie shares information from her personal journal, as well as interviews with others who have lived through similar situations. Their stories shed light on the realities of living in a nursing home, or caring for somebody who does. A must-read for anyone navigating the world of long-term care, either now or in the near future.
268 pages, Paperback
Published February 2, 2021
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 12, 2021
This book is a helpful tool for families and friends to use and is highly recommended for orientation training material for staff in long term care settings. A Daughter’s Perspective: Nursing Home 101 provides a family’s view of experiencing the processes involved with navigating systems to find a nursing home in a hurry, help a loved one move in, and then deal with the minute – by – minute struggles encountered with daily needs inside that setting. Rosauer is humorous, candid, and transparent in her descriptions of what it is like to: try to keep track of hearing aids and glasses, help make plans for grooming needs and bathing needs, make sure that swallowing issues are known to all, deal with pressure sores, communicate with staff at all levels to represent loved ones, make choices about hospice opportunities, try to problem solve ways for residents to get attention to their needs, find and complete paperwork related to permissions and desires from health care and end of life decisions to finances, balance personal work and family life with the needs of the loved one, and face and deal with death with courage and graciousness.
Each chapter on the topics covered begins with Rosauer’s heartfelt sharing of the stories of her own experiences and then is followed with stories shared by others, ranging from family and friends to staff from many different facilities. The last section in each topical chapter provides helpful tips from dealing with everyday life needs of the resident to finding advocacy and legal support when needed. The way she describes her experiences allows you to feel emotionally what it is like to encounter the same problems day after day after day and gives a window on the world view of living inside a room of constant waiting which can be transformed when the right people visit with the right type of interaction.
Rosauer does not just describe areas of problems which are very helpful for family and friends to be able to read, but she offers solutions on many levels and provides excellent resources. She champions services such as music therapy and exposes the practice of nursing homes dumping residents out on the street to end up living in homeless shelters. I have volunteered for 5 decades in long term care settings and have seen some with excellent care provision and very caring staff. However, the sad truth in today’s world is that not all places are like that, and even the best places have issues which need to be addressed from time to time. Rosauer provides statistics and comparisons for the issues she raises and discusses them from a variety of points of view. This book may be an eye-opener to some and a source of camaraderie to others who have lived through this world which seems like a different planet. Her desire is obviously to help others be prepared, assist them in their attempts to get needs met, and call on people in America to become involved in creating a better way to care for human beings to support them to still live in their hearts and souls while they are still alive and to not die emotionally in the process of dying physically.
Each chapter on the topics covered begins with Rosauer’s heartfelt sharing of the stories of her own experiences and then is followed with stories shared by others, ranging from family and friends to staff from many different facilities. The last section in each topical chapter provides helpful tips from dealing with everyday life needs of the resident to finding advocacy and legal support when needed. The way she describes her experiences allows you to feel emotionally what it is like to encounter the same problems day after day after day and gives a window on the world view of living inside a room of constant waiting which can be transformed when the right people visit with the right type of interaction.
Rosauer does not just describe areas of problems which are very helpful for family and friends to be able to read, but she offers solutions on many levels and provides excellent resources. She champions services such as music therapy and exposes the practice of nursing homes dumping residents out on the street to end up living in homeless shelters. I have volunteered for 5 decades in long term care settings and have seen some with excellent care provision and very caring staff. However, the sad truth in today’s world is that not all places are like that, and even the best places have issues which need to be addressed from time to time. Rosauer provides statistics and comparisons for the issues she raises and discusses them from a variety of points of view. This book may be an eye-opener to some and a source of camaraderie to others who have lived through this world which seems like a different planet. Her desire is obviously to help others be prepared, assist them in their attempts to get needs met, and call on people in America to become involved in creating a better way to care for human beings to support them to still live in their hearts and souls while they are still alive and to not die emotionally in the process of dying physically.
August 27, 2023
This is a well-written book packed full of information about the realities of managing the care of a loved one in a nursing home (aka skilled nursing facility.) It is both a reflective memoir and a how-to with good advice about how to minimize the issues you will face. This is a must-read for anyone who is thinking of or who already has a relative in a nursing home. It is a cry for reform which sadly does not seem to be coming soon enough.
March 14, 2021
Informative and heart wrenching. Reform is needed and now!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews