Writings from palliative care doctor Anna DeForest; a New Yorker investigation into what happens when a private equity firm buys a nursing home; and why do mosquitoes bite some of us more?
On the care home issue, it is not much better in the UK, where most are in private hands. The nursing home where I currently live was recently bought up by the largest care home "business" in the UK, owned by a couple of billionaires. The good news is they have just spent millions on refurbishing the place. The bad news is that the residents have had severe disruption for six months, and the place has literally been a building site, complete with builders playing loud music and swearing. We have had around 10 unexpected deaths in that time, especially among the residents with dementia, and I believe it was the stress of the disturbances. The upshot is we know have a "show home" which will wow families looking for a place to put their elderly parent, and hence the place is charging more for the freshly decorated rooms. But the current residents have no benefit to gain from it. I can't help thinking that it would have been better to spend the money on getting more staff, or to pay the existing ones more than minimum wage to stop the constant flow of workers leaving. This topic, and Yasmin's article also ties in with the themes of my two most recent substacks, on institutionalized trauma, and adverse experiences contributing to chronic symptoms.
Thanks for sharing this vivid glimpse of another nursing home, Gary. It's interesting to hear what is happening in the U.K. I was hoping these worries were confined to the U.S. but alas, not so. I look forward to reading your two most recent substacks.
On the care home issue, it is not much better in the UK, where most are in private hands. The nursing home where I currently live was recently bought up by the largest care home "business" in the UK, owned by a couple of billionaires. The good news is they have just spent millions on refurbishing the place. The bad news is that the residents have had severe disruption for six months, and the place has literally been a building site, complete with builders playing loud music and swearing. We have had around 10 unexpected deaths in that time, especially among the residents with dementia, and I believe it was the stress of the disturbances. The upshot is we know have a "show home" which will wow families looking for a place to put their elderly parent, and hence the place is charging more for the freshly decorated rooms. But the current residents have no benefit to gain from it. I can't help thinking that it would have been better to spend the money on getting more staff, or to pay the existing ones more than minimum wage to stop the constant flow of workers leaving. This topic, and Yasmin's article also ties in with the themes of my two most recent substacks, on institutionalized trauma, and adverse experiences contributing to chronic symptoms.
Thanks for sharing this vivid glimpse of another nursing home, Gary. It's interesting to hear what is happening in the U.K. I was hoping these worries were confined to the U.S. but alas, not so. I look forward to reading your two most recent substacks.