These are the reasons why you---as public, need to join and help this country stop bad nursing homes and stop bad physical rehab centers, now or as soon as possible. We must stop the horrors that are happening behind those closed doors so that we can all rest peacefully at night.
Lately, after consulting with many people who have seen the inside of some nursing homes and some physical rehabilitation centers, I came to the conclusion that for the most part, going into one of these places with lack of mobility almost always guarantees that you get physically worse. I have seen people go into these places in fairly decent condition and come out in horrible condition. (Note, this article is about the bad places, not the decent ones).
If you do need physical rehabilitation try your best to get out-patient rehabilitation. That will probably be the best and the healthiest thing for you to do. You will get more exercise; you will have more control over your life and you will save yourself pain, grief and suffering.
Always opt for outpatient therapy if you can not walk. I am not a doctor or a physical therapist, nor am I a medical professional, but I have seen patients go in and out of these places, and have first hand knowledge of people getting more ill and becoming less independent after they enter some of the worst nursing homes and the worst physical rehabilitation centers in America.
Oh, the "worst" of the bunch are not even listed on the government's worst list. The real worst of the bunch have a controlling group of individuals--usually the higher-ups that manage to hide the horrors when the inspectors come to see the nursing homes. How do they hide this? Picture this scenario? Picture an inspector coming into a nursing home ( a horrible one), and signing in at the desk. Everyone has to sign in or at least show identification. Then, picture someone on the speaker making a seemingly harmless announcement, such as "Joe Smith wanted in the dining room" or something else like that. This announcement alerts the rest of the staff that the inspector is coming into the building.
Now, anyone who is not at their post, and most areas that are not being attended--can be manned and people can pretend to be attentive to patients. Administration or directors can keep the inspectors or investigators occupied while everyone "cleans up" the place. Or the place can be cleaned up as the inspector is being in the elevator.
For example, a nursing home having filthy clothing in the hallways, instead of having it brought to the laundry, can cover this up by grabbing all the laundry out of the hallways, depositing it into bins on wheels and wheeling it down the opposite hallway (from the opposite end of the hallway that the inspector is coming down). Yes, someone can spray ozone spray or disinfectant and this floor can be seemingly clean. This is all an illusion.
Once I visited a nursing home -physical rehabilitation center and exited off the elevator, since I was not an inspector, they made no announcement and no cleanup. The entire floor stunk of body fluids and filth. It was so bad that I almost got very ill. Some of the employees were actually used to the smell. Now, this is not your ordinary institution smell, but the smell of a floor that was unattended and the smell of patients who were in dirty diapers for hours and hours.
I witnessed a man with wet pants -dripping wet pants -having to sit there for hours while no one attended to him. And this man was able to walk by himself but he was not permitted to go to the restroom. As he walked down the hall, his filthy pants, dripping wet and stained looked very uncomfortable and most likely the way this man was reacting, this was something that he was used to putting up with.
Remember, the key things to look for when first finding a nursing home or rehab place:
- Watch what they do with residents clothing. How they treat residents' clothing might be a clue as to how they will treat your family member or you. One of the places that we visited was always losing clothing(this didn't happen at the better places), and that same place also lost residents. We had heard that one resident got 'loose' ---walked out--twice, when the staff didn't even know she was missing. One had got loose even when they had a one-on-one. The person left the patient and the patient walked right out of the door of this horrible nursing home and rehab center. AFTER that they got security--that asked for special identification- and all visitors had to take badges. Funny though, it wasn't a visitor that escaped, it was a patient.
- Watch how they treat family members. If they treat family members with a lack of respect, they will surely treat the residents worse than that. Look, open your eyes.
Now, this is a place that looks "nice" in the lobby, and it's a place that gives a good first impression, yet, it is a house of horrors described above... yet, it is still in business. And it still is not on the government's worst list.
What you have just read is the truth about one nursing home but yet, it could be the truth about a thousand nursing homes. Kindly visit your local homes. Get the public involved. Ask that your school or your workers be able to visit and be able to stay for a while. Watch those red warning flags when nursing homes seemingly do not want visitors and do not want outsiders, such as holiday singers etc, into their residences. Really do your research if you are interested in having a family member stay at any nursing home. Remember this --that what you see on visitors' day is not always what the patients or residence sees. Look clearly, long, and deep. Read between the lines to see the truth behind those curtains. And keep connected here. Your comment might be able to change lives and to change conditions inside the walls of nursing homes in your own city.
Updated 2012.
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