Yes, my mother has advanced Parkinson’s and I was her primary caretaker for years before we finally had to move her into assisted living. I know very well how ill-equipped our society is for elder care.
People always talk about how it takes a village to raise a child, but we rarely talk about the village required to care for our elders.
Personally, I would rather kill myself than end up in a facility like my mom is in.
Well like, what other options are there? Most retirement communities have been bought out by Atria or Life Care Services, stripped of anything that made them special and unique, then had their prices jacked way up. For elderly people they can either A) spend the money all the they could give as inheritance, and take on debt to live in the only places capable of supporting you, or B) kill yourself, give your children as much inheritance as possible and hope that you making that decision means your kids might not have to do the same when it’s their turn.
The sad part is, it’s one of the best facilities around in a very HCOL area. We pay $8000 per month just for room and board. When she needs more care that price will increase. You’d think with ~100 residents all paying at least that much that the place would be really good, right? But the staff is all paid minimum wage so they can’t hire people to provide the basic services they advertise, like transportation. The meals are all made from institutional wholesale ingredients like liquid “eggs”, frozen meat and vegetables, and red delicious apples.
My mom has been burgled by staff and ignored by caregivers while she was stuck on the toilet because the understaffing issue is so bad.
Most of the staff are great people, but the owners are making so much money that they could breed like rabbits and their great-great-grandchildren would never have to lift a finger in their lives.
Yes, my mother has advanced Parkinson’s and I was her primary caretaker for years before we finally had to move her into assisted living. I know very well how ill-equipped our society is for elder care.
People always talk about how it takes a village to raise a child, but we rarely talk about the village required to care for our elders.
Personally, I would rather kill myself than end up in a facility like my mom is in.
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Well like, what other options are there? Most retirement communities have been bought out by Atria or Life Care Services, stripped of anything that made them special and unique, then had their prices jacked way up. For elderly people they can either A) spend the money all the they could give as inheritance, and take on debt to live in the only places capable of supporting you, or B) kill yourself, give your children as much inheritance as possible and hope that you making that decision means your kids might not have to do the same when it’s their turn.
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It’s the best option, and if you can figure out a way to do it I wish you all the luck in the universe. I won’t be holding my breath. No offense.
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The sad part is, it’s one of the best facilities around in a very HCOL area. We pay $8000 per month just for room and board. When she needs more care that price will increase. You’d think with ~100 residents all paying at least that much that the place would be really good, right? But the staff is all paid minimum wage so they can’t hire people to provide the basic services they advertise, like transportation. The meals are all made from institutional wholesale ingredients like liquid “eggs”, frozen meat and vegetables, and red delicious apples.
My mom has been burgled by staff and ignored by caregivers while she was stuck on the toilet because the understaffing issue is so bad.
Most of the staff are great people, but the owners are making so much money that they could breed like rabbits and their great-great-grandchildren would never have to lift a finger in their lives.