This highly depressing article about a father dying in an expensive nursing home is necessary, and difficult, to read in full:
"This indifferent care belied the promises of the establishment’s website, which portrayed a warm and engaging environment where caregivers chatted with residents and offered companionship and comfort: 'Your care team is always on hand to help – as little or as much as you need.'”
Instead, Cindy had to visit for hours every day to help Dad, trying to prod administrators and overworked staff to give him more of the promised care for which we were paying dearly, but without making so much fuss that they’d evict him. She was stressed, and we were all heartbroken that aside from family visits, Dad was spending his last days lonely, helpless and bored, at the mercy of a company that seemed to be doing more warehousing than care."
There's nothing easy about taking care of an elderly loved one. Throw dementia into the mix, and you're eternally dealing with options ranging from bad to not-quite-as-bad.
We eventually moved my dad out of a nursing home and into a house with me. We had private nurses coming in during the day, but then the issue was helping him in the middle of the night. His internal clock regarding day and night was just gone.
I thought I'd have more to say about the whole experience but just documenting different stories like this one seems like the best path forward.
To reiterate, our family had resources in no small part due to my dad having worked (very hard!) for the Federal Government for over 30 years. It was still a bruising experience for all of us before he passed at 93.
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