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How much time have you spent in them? I've worked in several. They're pretty awful. They also stink really bad. There is the stench of all the adult diapers being changed on the hallways and many homes do little to control the odor. There are also people in various stages of dementia which can make it harder for the other residents to find company or someone to talk to. There are also contagious diseases that spread around in these places, C-Dif, for example, is a common one that spreads in nursing homes. Assisted living facilities are slightly better but not always. Nursing homes are not an ideal place to live out the remainder of one's life no matter how nice they might initially seem.
These are generalizations and not true across the board. The nursing homes I work and do not smell at all. The dementia residents are in a separate unit. Most of the people who get CDiff get it when they go to the hospital, not from the facility. When they come back with that diagnosis, they are put in an isolation room until it is cleared.
Spouse and I are independent and retired now with no children. We spend our time at home or walking the dogs. The dogs are entertaining and like us everyday expecting nothing but food and some attention.
We have church friends to call if we need help for something spiraducally.
Once we need full time health plan on moving to Costa Rica where lie I help costs about the same person month as a day in assisted living here.i will be living in my place and have a live in cook and a nurse or two or three. Provide them a place to stay so they are near.
I'm friendly and ire outgoing than my spouse but don't need a regular friend to see if ten to be happy. We moved slot for work to different towns and states so adjusting on our own with a church to find those with common values worked great.
I suspect the decline in religion interests is part if the growing lonliness along with more tech interested than with other humans
Oh and by the way type of dog may matter too.
You have a spouse though. IMO that helps a lot, just feeling you’re aging and going though it with a teammate. There are many older folks now completely on their own, which is who I think the article is talking about.
I've seen good and bad nursing homes. One of the local nursing homes that my grandfather was in was not very good at the time he was in there. A decade on and after being purchased by the local hospital system, things have totally turned around.
After the reports of the Camp Fire in Paradise came out, I knew there were going to be stories of the old people that lived there alone, and died, because they stubbornly resisted moving in with relatives or to a congregate living situation, but really shouldn't have lived on their own. Some couldn't drive, so they had no way to evacuate, even if they had been notified in time. Some couldn't walk beyond the confines of their home. Some received the evacuation notice, but refused to believe they should go until it was too late. Not every victim of the fire was elderly, but an inordinate number were, and their stories were heartbreaking. To live in a relatively remote community, with no support from nearby family, when they are so infirm just seems very foolhardy. Many folks just can't seem to see that living alone, after a certain point in their health decline, is unwise. For others, I know there may be no other choice if they have no family, because of the costs of congregate living and the possibility of being in a donut hole, they make too much for a subsidized place, and too little for the market rate places.
To be sure, some died simply because there was no central system to notify them in time, but others simply were physically unable to evacuate, and their surviving families will be tortured by the thoughts of the manner in which they died.
After the reports of the Camp Fire in Paradise came out, I knew there were going to be stories of the old people that lived there alone, and died, because they stubbornly resisted moving in with relatives or to a congregate living situation, but really shouldn't have lived on their own. Some couldn't drive, so they had no way to evacuate, even if they had been notified in time. Some couldn't walk beyond the confines of their home. Some received the evacuation notice, but refused to believe they should go until it was too late. Not every victim of the fire was elderly, but an inordinate number were, and their stories were heartbreaking. To live in a relatively remote community, with no support from nearby family, when they are so infirm just seems very foolhardy. Many folks just can't seem to see that living alone, after a certain point in their health decline, is unwise. For others, I know there may be no other choice if they have no family, because of the costs of congregate living and the possibility of being in a donut hole, they make too much for a subsidized place, and too little for the market rate places.
To be sure, some died simply because there was no central system to notify them in time, but others simply were physically unable to evacuate, and their surviving families will be tortured by the thoughts of the manner in which they died.
After the reports of the Camp Fire in Paradise came out, I knew there were going to be stories of the old people that lived there alone, and died, because they stubbornly resisted moving in with relatives or to a congregate living situation, but really shouldn't have lived on their own. Some couldn't drive, so they had no way to evacuate, even if they had been notified in time. Some couldn't walk beyond the confines of their home. Some received the evacuation notice, but refused to believe they should go until it was too late. Not every victim of the fire was elderly, but an inordinate number were, and their stories were heartbreaking. To live in a relatively remote community, with no support from nearby family, when they are so infirm just seems very foolhardy. Many folks just can't seem to see that living alone, after a certain point in their health decline, is unwise. For others, I know there may be no other choice if they have no family, because of the costs of congregate living and the possibility of being in a donut hole, they make too much for a subsidized place, and too little for the market rate places.
To be sure, some died simply because there was no central system to notify them in time, but others simply were physically unable to evacuate, and their surviving families will be tortured by the thoughts of the manner in which they died.
Not for nothing situations you describe happen all the time with disasters of major proportions; man made or from nature.
Hurricanes, floods, major snowfall/blizzards, wars, coups, military/government atrocities, etc.... the lot. It is usually the old, elderly, infirm, disabled and others who could or would not leave (providing they got some sort of heads up), that take a brunt of what's coming.
First and foremost no small number of older persons/elderly simply won't be told. Thus precious time is wasted by family or anyone else attempting to convince them to move. So unless you're willing to sling them over your shoulder and or otherwise physically move them, there is a end to things.
Those then and now who have lived fifty, sixty, seventy or more years have seen quite a lot and often have become set in their ways. For a "child" to come around and tell them they "must" evacuate or move because this or that event is forecast often doesn't befront them much. They lived through the "hurricane of 37", and don't see any need to uproot themselves from all they know and hold near & dear now.
In recent memory look at the numbers of seniors or elderly who died directly or indirectly from hurricane Katrina.
To be sure, some died simply because there was no central system to notify them in time, but others simply were physically unable to evacuate, and their surviving families will be tortured by the thoughts of the manner in which they died.
My parents lived in Myrtle Beach and, as they got into their 80s, they told us that next time a hurricane came through they weren't evacuating. I thought that was a perfectly rational decision and, as far as I know, so did my 4 siblings although 2 lived within a few hours of Mom and Dad, in Charlotte, and could have taken them in. It's a moot point now- Mom died 2 years ago and Dad moved to be near one of my brothers.
My parents lived in Myrtle Beach and, as they got into their 80s, they told us that next time a hurricane came through they weren't evacuating. I thought that was a perfectly rational decision and, as far as I know, so did my 4 siblings although 2 lived within a few hours of Mom and Dad, in Charlotte, and could have taken them in. It's a moot point now- Mom died 2 years ago and Dad moved to be near one of my brothers.
At some point, it becomes impractical for the elderly or disabled to evacuate without assistance.
Then there was this old geezer whom many of us living in the PNW did not consider a folk hero.
Most people figured let him go if that's what he wanted but at least evacuate the cats. We were incensed that he made the decision for all 16 of his cats to perish with him.
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