Nursing homes fulfill a real need

By Ted Goins Jr.

For the Salisbury Post

It is so easy to take a good thing too far. A large insurance company (which shall remain nameless) created an advertising campaign that has now evolved into their responsibility project. Their definition of responsibility is doing the right thing, so their project is to help us do the right thing.

One of the project's commercials includes a scene of a woman trying to decide if she should place her dad in a nursing home. The spot ends with dad sitting around the happy family dining table as everyone laughs and titters, and dad (who seems slightly confused) sings.

Now, I freely admit that the ministry I work for is in large part a nursing home provider, so I am biased. But why does one group have to lose and another one win? It doesn't have to be that way. I don't know many people that choose to go to a nursing home. People go there because they need care from skilled, loving professionals 24-7. The people who live in nursing homes require near-constant attention: nurses to monitor and assess, medications, meals, toileting, activities, housekeeping, laundry. ... Many people are there for intensive rehab on their way home from a knee or hip replacement. It's quite a production, and it happens every day and night, including Christmas!

Ask someone if they want to go to a nursing home and the answer is no. Ask someone if they want to have brain surgery and the answer is no. Oops É unless the person NEEDS the nursing home or needs brain surgery. Then the answer is a resounding yes! It is cruel and disingenuous to offer a choice where there is no choice.

I have never seen a nursing home that wanted a person who didn't need to be there. I am in favor of staying in my own home as long as I can, and the same for you. But we are working real hard to make sure that North Carolina is creating the type of nursing home I want to live in, if and when the day comes when I need nursing home care.

Nursing homes do not care for people who can stay in their own home, unless the people are very wealthy. Anyone who says otherwise is telling you a half truth. A person who needs a sitter a few hours a day, or a nurse to drop by and give a shot once a day or who visits a day care center two days a week does not need a nursing home. Nursing homes are for people who need skilled professionals around the clock. Full-time certified nursing assistant care alone would cost at least 33 percent more than skilled care, and that doesn't include housing, utilities, nurses, and all the other services provided by a quality health care provider.

While the insurance company is on the right track with the responsibility project, they were irresponsible in subtly bashing nursing homes. "Dad" and everyone else involved should decide what is the best place for Dad to live. Then it doesn't have to be a win for some and a loss for others. Let's all win.

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Ted W. Goins Jr. is president of Lutheran Services for the Aging.