Nursing Home Analysis

For several years I volunteered at a nursing home following the passing of my grandmother. When I first began, I had no prior understanding of the culture of aging beyond my grandma and her friends. Through my experience talking with the residents and observing the facility, along with my studies in public health, I noticed many gaps in the care of the elderly, both in the health care system as well as socially.

Multi-generational homes are becoming increasingly more common as aging individuals may need access to caregivers, such as family members, to help with their chronic conditions and disabilities. In someways this may help a family financially as this would eliminate the cost of a nursing facility, however the burden of providing care to a disabled family-member can be very stressful. Caring for someone who may have medical needs and physical requirements in order to properly care for them can be exhausting as well as frustrating to see a loved one becoming ill. Many families opt to chose nursing facilities as this will alleviate some of the stress of constant …show more content…
Although they were surrounded by people who were, more or less, their peers, most of them kept to their rooms. After asking several different residents why this was, many of them said simply they "didn't know these people."

Being placed in a nursing may be a very disconcerting experience as well as one that may not have been entirely their decision. Along with loneliness, another health concern is social isolation in the elderly. Social isolation occurs when people do not have enough physical contact with another being. This most often occurs with aging individuals who live alone, but is still prevalent when living with family members or in a care facility. One of the health concerns of seclusion and loneliness is increased rates of mortality and