National Residents’ Rights Week, Oct. 5-11, honors residents living in all long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, sub-acute units, assisted living, board and care, and retirement communities.
The week has been designated by NCCNHR: The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care so that facilities may celebrate awareness of dignity, respect and the value of each individual resident.
During Residents’ Rights Week, NCCNHR is giving residents from facilities across the country an opportunity to share their ideas of what “home” means to them and how to create that home in a long-term care facility. Submissions will be randomly displayed on the National Ombudsman Resource Center website in a new section called “The Residents’ Voice.”
Aaron Toleos, Online Communications Director
atoleos@phinational.org
I have just helped my 90 year old Aunt in getting settled into an assisted living home. She is “sharp as a tack” mentally although she has several age related medical conditions. She has found herself surrounded with people who are in various stages of dementia. It would be nice if the people who give her care could match her up with a few residents who still can communicate on a normal functioning level mentally in order to keep her mind alert and allow her to have peers to communicate with. She sometimes feels as though she is the only one who has a sharp mind and she (her quote)”treats the others like children” when she interacts with them and they repeat things to her every few minutes etc.Perhaps there are others there that she has not met who are functioning on her level but stay in their apartments in order to avoid this experience of babysitting other people their age when they are seeking companionship.Glad this site made me think about it since most of the features of the place where she lives are very nice.Perhaps this will prompt me to speak to someone confidentially and see if there is a peer or two that they could introduce her to. Thanks, Kenmom