By Ya Han Hsu
As the pandemic goes on, the problems of nursing homes are getting more serious. Not only for the money, but also Nosocomial infections.
The nursing homes in America were mostly founded in the last century. There are mainly two kinds of residents. The first kind is short-term residents, they usually stay at nursing centers to recover after coming out of hospitals. Others are long-term residents, maybe their families aren’t able to take care of them due to work, or that the elders need specialty care. However there is one problem, do the residents want to stay there? The general answer is no.
Especially when older people have a stronger connection between their community and themselves. Pre Pandemic, 76% of Americans aged 50 or above prefer to stay in their current residence and 77% want to live in their communities as long as possible. However, only 59% think that they will be able to live inside their community. Though the government gives allowance for home and community based care, the problem hasn’t eased much. With the average age rising, specialty care is needed more than ever, and some of them need to be in hospitals or nursing centers.
Another problem is about the expenses. The nursing centers are still lacking money, especially for nonprofit ones. Small nonprofit nursing homes are closed or swallowed by large profit nursing homes. Nursing homes’ problems are getting more serious under the pandemic. A survey in June shows that only 25% of nursing homes have confidence that they would survive one more year.
These issues are maybe sometimes overlooked by younger people, as we think that we aren’t involved in this. However, one day we will get old, one day we will face the problem whether we like it or not. Not to mention how much the elders had paid for the younger generations. This is an issue which everyone needs to consider and think about.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/01/opinion/aging-nursing-homes.html