which 65% of people rely upon<\/a>, can address many needs.<\/p>\nAs we age it is important to avoid being subtly pressured into assuming that nursing homes are an inevitability.\u00a0 In my experience, caring for parishioners in a variety of settings, if you consider a nursing home or a graduated care facility, there are a number of things to keep in mind:<\/p>\n
One, not all facilities are equal.\u00a0 Nursing homes and retirement communities do not pay as much as other parts of the medical and hospitality industries.\u00a0 Staffing levels and competence can vary widely.<\/p>\n
Two, what you judge to be a quality life and your own personality are significant variables.\u00a0 Don\u2019t lose cite of them, even if family members insist that the move to a nursing home or graduated care facility would be \u201cgood for you\u201d.\u00a0 Some people thrive with the activities on offer in a retirement community.\u00a0 Others instinctively push hard against them.\u00a0 It is not wrong to be drawn to orchestrated activities, nor is it wrong to find them lacking.\u00a0 Take stock of your preferences and remember that you may need to have some candid and potentially difficult conversations if you belong to one cohort and your spouse belongs to the other.<\/p>\n
Three, if you enter a retirement community that provides graduated care, take stock of what that journey is likely to entail.\u00a0 It is one thing to enter a community with independent living, where you can live in a patio home or apartment, and continue to drive.\u00a0 It is another thing to find yourself in managed care where you may be required to live across the hall from your spouse and live in separate rooms no larger than a small bedroom.\u00a0 Such moves can have the effect of greatly diminished privacy, intimacy, and activity.<\/p>\n
Four, evaluate what it will mean for you to live in a chronologically homogenous community and in a place where access to the communities and friendships you have forged may be lost or limited.\u00a0 Loneliness is, itself, spiritually and physically hazardous.<\/p>\n
Five, if you decide to remain in your home, do what you can make your home accessible and easily maintained.\u00a0 And \u2013 if and when physical needs require attention \u2013 explore reliable in-home care.<\/p>\n
Six, above all, consider the spiritual dimensions of the decision that you are making for yourself, in conversation with your spouse, and in conversation with loved ones.\u00a0 A deeply materialist approach to negotiating our lives as we age has set in.\u00a0 All too often we have prioritized medical care and supervision over relationships, fulfillment, and the cultivation of spiritual peace.\u00a0 It would be sadly ironic if, in the face of improved life expectancy, we put in place well-intended layers of care that robbed those years of joy and spiritual growth.\u00a0 Without ignoring the challenges you may face, keep these concerns at the forefront, and insist that loved ones remember that just because you are aging, does not mean you no longer have concerns that transcend basic, physical safety.<\/p>\n
Finally, let me return to the point that I made near the beginning of the article.\u00a0 Deciding where to live as we age is a complex decision, and there are countless variables.\u00a0 There is no\u00a0one, right<\/em> decision.\u00a0 But the decision warrants careful deliberation.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photo by Nina Hill<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 Zippia, an online career website shares some interesting facts about American nursing homes, the people who occupy them, and the future of the \u201cnursing home industry\u201d: There are over 810,000 people living in assisted living facilities in the United States. 4% of U.S. seniors live in nursing homes. 2% of U.S. seniors live in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":5510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4409],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retirement-homes"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n