Assisted Living Facilities Being Called Out For Giving Seniors “Chemical Straightjacket Drugs”

A group of people sitting around a table.


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General recently noted that nursing homes and assisted living facilities are being closely monitored after they found that 8 in 10 residents (about 1 million) were being given psychiatric drugs which were deemed “chemical straightjacket drugs.â€Â  I am, unfortunately, all too familiar with this type of behavior.  I took care of my grandmother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, from the age of 92-98.  When it got too stressful, I took a vacation to France and had her stay in a rehab facility for three weeks while I was away.  I got a call from the rehab facility and they asked for my permission to put her in restraints because she was not being cooperative.  I said absolutely not, she is just reacting to being in an unfamiliar setting.  Unfortunately, facilities are understaffed and would prefer to sedate seniors instead of giving them the respect that they deserve.

Long Term Care Facilities Account For 40% Of COVID-19 Deaths

A woman helping an older person with papers


published a story about how the fear of catching the disease has caused many patients to have gone weeks without a shower or having their teeth brushed, while residents with dementia have suffered from lack of human contact.  This often leads to depression, loss of weight, mobility and speech.  Sharon Wallace, a senior whose multiple sclerosis caused her to go into a nursing home, told the NYT, “I feel like my health is going downhill.”  This has made Aging In Place a more popular option as Assisted Living Facilities become hotbeds for disease.  “Nursing homes are really little hospitals, yet they’re not staffed like it.  If you asked an I.C.U. nurse to take care of 15 people, she’d laugh at you, but that’s essentially what we have,” Chris Laxton, the executive director of AMDA, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine said.

Monterey, CA Isolation Of Nursing Homes Can Cause Seniors To Give Up Hope

A woman looking out of the window at her home.


The San Francisco Chronicle recently wrote a sad story about Shirley Drexler who died two months into the coronavirus pandemic, “not from COVID-19.  She died of despair.â€Â  According to the article, she was called the “queen of Rhoda Goldman Plaza,†an assisted living facility in the Western Addition.  She joined in almost every activity, flitting from table to table during long lunch hours.  However, on March 17, Drexler and every other resident were abruptly shut in their rooms.  She stopped eating and didn’t want to get out of bed.  “It was like she lost the will to keep going,†Adrienne Fair, assistant executive director of the facility, told the San Francisco chronicle.  At Family inHome Caregiving, we find this story all too familiar.  When family members decide to institutionalize a senior, they often lose hope and quickly pass away.  Without the familiar faces of friends and family and their normal routine, they often lose the will to live.  At Family inHome Caregiving, we focus on giving our senior clients plenty of exercise, nutritious meals and plenty of social interaction.  We strive to allow seniors to remain in their own homes and independent for as long as possible and are seeing many families pull their loved ones out of local facilities to be brought back home so they don’t catch COVID-19.


https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-seniors-struggle-with-isolation-15673820.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=sfc_morningfix&sid=5936af7424c17c09a38000c4

Monterey, CA Nursing Homes Hit Hard In Coronavirus Pandemic

A woman helping an older person with papers


Almost all nursing homes in Monterey County have reported coronavirus outbreaks, and this may signal a paradigm shift where more people decide to live out their final years at home.  The U.S. currently has the largest number of nursing home residents in the world and accounts for the largest number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., a total of 115K.  Occupancy in nursing homes is down by 15%, due both to deaths and a decrease in admissions.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-spurs-families-to-shun-nursing-homes-a-shift-that-appears-long-lasting-11608565170

Monterey, CA Aging At Home Is Now In Vogue : Assisted Living On The Outs

A nurse is smiling next to an older woman.


COVID-19 has made aging at home in vogue.  The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article on how coronavirus is changing the way Americans face retirement by “accelerating developments already under way,†physician Bill Thomas said to the reporter.  “It’s going to make people rethink retirement altogether,†Laura Carstensen, director of Stanford University’s Center on Longevity said.  Most people will age at home, and remain independent, she said.  I believe that her view is true.  With roughly 40% of COVID-19 being staff and residents of nursing homes, nobody wants to go into a facility these days.  We have been getting a number of calls from fearful children who want to get their parents out of assisted living and back home, where they can reduce the risk of coronavirus exposure.  Although COVID-19 will eventually be wiped out, there will clearly be more devastating diseases in the future which makes these facilities dangerous.   

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-covid-19-will-change-aging-and-retirement-11605452401

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