The days when ... are gone.

Today I went to see my client in the Long Term Care Facility (a.k.a. Nursing Home) where she has lived for several years. As I was waiting for the elevator I noticed a board that listed the residents and what rooms they were in. It was a very nice wooden frame with each name printed on a golden plate. It looked very elegant, except for the half a dozen white print outs placed in their for the newer residents. I wondered, did they give up on having the names printed on the shiney metal plate, or are they just waiting for the order to come in and the white ones are just place holders. I wondered how long it took to get a name plate, and did people pass away before they arrived. Before I could ponder any more the elevator came and I was on my way to my visit.

After the visit, I bumped into one of the hospice nurses who was there to see a different client of ours that had denied massage therapy services. This client wasn't doing well, in fact, should could die tonight, if not tomorrow. I remembered her name was one of the names on the white strips of paper.

The elevator opened for my return to the main floor and it was filled with staff from another floor. They were talking work business and I followed the conversation only on the basic level. As they were exiting the elevator on the floor before my stop, I heard, "...the days when people are here for 15 years are gone. Now it's just rehabs and short terms..." and then doors closed. At first I thought she was talking about employees working for 15 years or more at the same place, but quickly realized she was talking about the residents. She sounded a little wistful for the old days. I imagined she missed getting to know residents and their families over a long period of time.

As I exited the elevator I pondered why this was happening to the nursing homes, and it didn't take long for me to cite hospice programs as a reason. Of course hospice had an influence! Hopsice programs were making it possible for families to care for their loved ones at home for as long as possible. They weren't shipped off at the first sign of trouble, instead we were helping them until their illnesses required the care of a 24 hour nursing solution. To me this meant more families are taking care of each other and more people were dying at home among their families and comforting surroundings.

Maybe hospice can't take all the credit or blame, as it may be, but we can hope that we are doing some good and that it is starting show up in the larger picture.