Assisted Living Vs Nursing Homes

After reading this story about Doreen Sparks I realized a situation like this never even came to thought for me. How terrible to be living in a nice Assisted Living location then is told that you are being evicted due to your increasing medical problems. Having read these reading about nursing homes and the elderly it is so apparent that once being relocated to these places a serious loss of independence takes place. But in Doreen’s case you will have to experience this loss twice, and all the while taking steps down in the process. This seems like such a tough thing to have to do but it is inevitable, if there are standards and rules in Assisted Living places then it is bound to happen due to ageing and medical problems. I feel a huge deal of sadness for these people whom manage to finally make this place a home, only to eventually be uprooted due to medical issues. Again I feel class would play a huge role in this, without the proper money to pay for Assisted Living most elderly people aren’t even given the chance to experience this. However on the other hand if someone who is in a class that can afford such living how difficult it must be to go from your own home, to assisted living, and then to a nursing home all due to illness and aging. Just as the article states, dignity places a huge part in the struggle to accept their aging.

There must be a way to better transition these elderly people since we know this is a problem and bound to happen. The one thing that Assisted Living offers is a home like presence, this helps the transition for newly widowed, or newly ailing people that can no longer take care of themselves. Class or culture should never dictate how one spends the last years of there life. A home like setting should always be an option no matter if it needs to be a nursing home or assisted living. I don’t think that past generations had to make these decisions because today we live in a world of more greed and less empathy for those who need our help.