ARTICLE By Jennifer:

ALL CALL TO ACTION FOR ALL LONG TERM CARE PROFESSIONALS AND THOSE WHO CARE FOR OUR NATIONS ELDERLY...
By Jennifer Helfrich-Will, HFA Holiday Manor Princeton, IN 1/21/02

The societal negative stigmas associated with working and living in long term care facilities is hard to stifle. Lay your pen down, stop thinking about work and take a moment to contemplate what it would really be like to live in an American nursing home now... today... this very minute!

HUMMMM I think I hear the anguish, worries and concerned voices of the elderly being bombarded with local newspaper or better yet the media stories about elder abuse, neglect, lawyers offering to sue nursing home providers and bankrupt homes forced to close their doors. No political figure heads are going to come campaigning to nursing home residents doors anymore, their votes and voices are entirely overlooked. They will no longer be actively invited to public hearings in order to speak out regarding the government cutting their only source of income and healthcare namely Medicaid, Medicare and social security, which will affect the level and quality of care they are receiving. Our residents can only just sit back and watch as the politicians, press and public decide their future ...

I am a long term care worker who is "proud to be an American" and am just as proud to be nursing home administrator. I read negative stories in the press surrounding the operational practices of our industry and am frequently exposed to the television bombardment of "20/20" stories spotlighting less than positive nursing home practices. I frequently tell myself...I will not let this happen. We can not allow America to show negative stories of nursing home care and paint me, and my distinguished colleagues, as their scapegoat for what is going to happen to all of us someday?.... we will grow old.....we may eventually be unable to care for ourselves and might call a nursing home our home. Growing old and being unable to care for yourself does not make you any less of a human being. Society should value all life equally whether you are an infant and have the potential to contribute or the elderly and have been contributing to society their entire lives.

Well, I hope when my time comes to experience long term care the public image of living in a nursing home will be positive. I will not have to feel ashamed, scared or even unsure about the financial viability of the nursing home I live in, will my home be sold or even worse shut down causing me to leave my friends and family. These are just a few of the negative societal stigmas we are putting on our elderly living in long term care facilities. Our state and federal governments are continuing to cut the money being allotted for resident care while continuing to raise the "golden bar of regulatory standards" representing the level of care we provide to our one of our nations most precious resources THE ELDERLY! for without these human beings we would have not had the opportunity of today! An example of the burdensome over regulation as cited in the December 2001 MEDPAC report to congress, is the Medicare program which by one widely used estimate, over 125,000 pages of regulations- more than the Internal Revenue Service regulations for the entire tax system - control the program. I am not asking for the government to create a bill to bail out failing nursing home corporations, like they did for the airlines or even think the government should afford me the inalienable right to provide long term care services. My goal is to stop officials, the press and media from brow beating our industry to death by cutting reimbursement to unrealistic lows and promoting excessive regulations.

Sometimes administrators use societies negative nursing home view as a crutch or justification for poor work habits. They do not regularly "go the extra mile" for their residents and families. As professionals we can’t let this occur, I encourage you to demand everyone associated with our industry perform work at their highest level or get out of the industry. I will not tolerate any less from my colleagues and expect you to demand the same. We must always be asking ourselves, " am I doing everything I can to provide the highest level of care for my residents?" When I am given the opportunity to welcome new residents into my facility and provide them care sometimes they can’t speak, walk or even recognize their family anymore. I find myself holding their hands and while looking into their eyes thinking are they comfortable? is this person in pain? do they feel joy?

The rewards of our profession are not always as tangible as others either. Take for instance physicians, they are able to see their patients recover from a cold or even walk again after hip surgery, school teachers receive the satisfaction of hearing their students read a story for the first time and farmers can hold an ear of corn that was once just a seed they planted in the earth. While working in the field of long term care we may occasionally receive a smile or thank you from residents and families, but not much more, because our service eventually deals with the end of life, but what about the time preceding this? Society celebrates birth and shuns away the ideas of old age and death. Our only rewards lie in knowing we did the best job we could for the residents with the resources time we were allotted. We celebrated our residents lives and capitalized on their abilities not their inability’s. We provided an environment in which they could succeed and shine not an area where they are constantly reminded of their short comings, which in direct contradiction of societies ideals.

Everyday we must go to work with a smile on our face...for who? the residents their families and our staff. According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Healthcare Financing Administration there are over 17,000 nursing homes in the United States and 1.5 million people living in them call this home. This is a wonderful and challenging time to be working in the long term care industry....things are going to be changing. Our industry is evolving, ideas are being proposed that will have long standing effects on our residents and our profession. But never forget what our actions and words can do to our profession and our residents today.

I am always ready and willing to take on a challenge and will continue to work ever diligently to provide the highest level of care for the residents who put their trust in me to meet their physical, mental, social and spiritual needs. I stand before you to challenge all long term care providers join together, demand our society embrace the elderly and nursing homes. By continuing to educate ourselves and the general public we will make our profession and the process of aging a positive experience. I am here to support the publics right to choose to live in nursing homes and not feel ashamed.

I am currently working with several grass roots organizations, long standing organizations like the AARP on a state by state basis, and state ran healthcare organization such as the Indiana Healthcare Association. By working with these organizations to create a united front to fight state and federal cuts in reimbursement and promote the professionalism within our industry we will achieve our goals, to provide quality long term care services while being reimbursed at a realistic rate.

Our motto as long term care providers should be as follows, "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can - and I mean to keep doing it so until the end. - Abraham Lincoln Together we can start of ripple of admirable long term care energy across the nation and make nursing home care a positive experience.