Concerning Christianity

I was reading an article recently about a care initiative called the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP). It is a new health care initiative brought about by the results of a Yale Study. In the study, around 800 seniors were tracked during their hospital stays. Half of the seniors received regular hospital care whereas the other half were visited daily by someone who made sure that they were eating properly, engaged and encouraged them, made sure that they were happy with the treatment they were receiving, etc. Not surprisingly, the group which received one on one attention during their stay as opposed to regular hospital care showed significantly less delirium and functional decline. According to the study “two million older Americans this year will develop delirium and functional decline during their inpatient care. These complications will result in increased morbidity and mortality, prolonged hospital stays, increased provider liability, a greater likelihood of needing long-term care and billions of dollars in excess health care costs. This scenario is not inevitable. ”

I was encouraged to see this study finally giving weight to a subject that most of us in eldercare have been familiar with for years. Sometimes it takes the Ivy League a little time to catch up with the rest of us:) It seems that almost daily I am having the same conversation with adult children of aging parents. I try to express to them the emotional toll of being in a hospital environment. I try to explain that, to an eighty year old, the hospital means death. Yet day after day, I receive phone calls from family members. They always say the following types of things:

” Mom has been really confused since she’s been at the hospital.”

” We really only meant for Dad to spend two weeks in rehab before coming home but he really has taken a turn for the worse since being there.”

The ironic thing is that these statements are typically made in order to justify staying at a hospital or facility for longer periods of time in order to “recuperate.” When in reality, the longer stay exacerbates the problem. This is the same line of reasoning that tells us the best way out of debt is to spend more. Home is where they are most comfortable. Home Is where they want to be.

To be fair, hospitals and facilities do the best they can to care for people. My mother in law is an occupational therapist and works harder than almost anyone I know to see to it that people get better. But with the elderly, hospitals are not simply fighting for quality care. They are battling against a generational mentality which believes that only the really ill or close to dying go to the hospital.

So what should you do? At the risk of shameless self promotion, you should hire Home Instead Senior Care. The value of having someone at the facility or hospital to provide one on one care is immeasurable; someone to speak up when needs are not being met and take the time to make sure that the elderly patient understands the treatment circus going on around them. A rehab facility is a slightly tougher nut to crack. Many times, circumstances necessitate placement in a facility environment. This is not the appropriate forum to attempt to stipulate each of the conditions which would make a rehab facility the best option. I will say that the times when a facility is a must are far less common than most people realize. There are an abundance of options for receiving treatment in the home. Physical therapists who will visit the home, doctor’s making housecalls, etc. The world has changed significantly over the last 80 years. There are a myriad of new roads to recovery. But on these new roads it is up to all of us to be the map.