My Experience In A Nursing Home

Elderly people have always held a special place in my heart, so I wanted to do my field work in a nearby nursing home that I had never visited. I set out to learn about the quality of life that elderly people had in the nursing home and what contributed to that quality, either good or bad. I called ahead to get permission to do this assignment and get access to various areas of the building. I did not give a specific time or day so that I could ensure as natural setting as possible with no special accommodations from the home. I was allowed to make my observations in various parts of the building such as the lobby, lunchroom, and activities room. This paper will describe my experience and how I viewed the care, interaction, and quality of …show more content…
I entered a large lobby with beige walls that had a flower-patterned wallpaper strip running horizontally in the middle of the wall. This pattern surrounded the lobby and ran all the way down the hallway accompanied by white linoleum flooring. The lighting was very fluorescent and not very bright. To my left was a card table with a sign-in book for guests to sign and list who they were visiting. There were two signatures. To my right was an open room with a few Halloween decorations on the windows, four, brown living room style chairs surrounding a wooden coffee table, and a brown, leather couch near a window for people to sit and visit with each other. I was immediately hit with a strong, musty, smell that is hard to describe. It was not pleasant and could maybe be compared to a combination of body odor and dirty …show more content…
The drab, depressing ambiance of the nursing home led me to believe that the home was for people with lower or limited income. If the nursing home was making money, it was not being spent to make the building look inviting or comfortable for visitors or residents. The look of unhappiness from the people living there could be the lack of attention from the caretakers as well as the lack of visitors. I recalled the man in the lunchroom asking for water and being ignored. I also thought of Emma and how she held my hand. That could have been a need for human touch, or possibly a cry for help. Although I saw a man get ignored, I did not see physical abuse. But something seems off. There was not one happy face in the building. There were no visitors, no happy families visiting with each other, and not much interaction between the residents. They seemed to be starving for attention from anyone. Although there was an activity room, I did not see an activity happening in the time I was there and the fact that there were only 3 bottles of glue sitting out suggests that not many people were taking part in the activities. The pictures in the activity room could symbolize what is still in the residents’ hearts and minds. The drawing of the home with sunshine and a dog could have represented what used to be someone’s prior life. A church could symbolize many things to someone, such as religion, God,