Updated 1/21/2020
While caring for my uncle the five years until he passed away in January 2018, I became aware of many issues that greatly affect the quality of life for older adults in long-term care. My mother and I moved my uncle ( her brother) to aproximately eight different nursing homes with the hope the next one would be better and would be the answer. It never was. It was the same issues no matter where he moved to. The last nursing home my uncle was in, he said he did not want me speaking up for him anymore, because when I did, he told me they retailiated and took it out on him. He knew it was his word against many of them and he would never be able to prove it. We both knew concerns and/or complaints never resulted in anything positive. We both knew one facility in the past had banned me by false allegations because I advocated for him. With my uncle and I having fear of speaking up, it led to my uncle falling five times in one week becaue no no one would come to help him get his pants down and up to use the toilet. The last fall sent him to the hospital, where it was the only place he could obtain HA MRSA (hospital aquired). For the reasons previously stated, he never told me about these falls, I only found out by reading the ODH report after he passed away. My uncle did not have a peaceful passing due to the poor care and lack of communication with the healthcare providers, the nursing home, and the hospital. His last days were him yelling my name and grabbing my arm for hours. For months after his passing, I carried much guilt! The words: “I FAILED HIM!” were imprinted in my mind. So many times, I thought, I should have done more! I started a Facebook Page called Elderly Advocates, and I found out my story was sadly, the story of many, perhaps it’s even your loved one’s story.
On the Facebook page, I learned that many had gone through the same things my uncle and I did. Many people were frustrated and angry with the poor care and neglect their loved one received. Many of us had made complaints to the long-term care facility hoping that problems in care would be corrected. Many times, we would complain of the same problems for weeks or even months, while our loved ones’ condition deteriorated. We followed the next step in filing a complaint with the Ohio Department of Health, only to get a response that our complaint(s) were unsubstantiated. We also saw that too many familiy members were being banned and/or restricted by some facilities because they made concerns or complaints. We didnt realize how many people were having concerns and complaints handled by this practice. We were not the only ones. We started with one person starting this page, to now, over 750 followers currently and that number continues to increase.
The care for our loved ones within the long-term care facilities really is NOT the care they deserve. It is clear that there are numerous reasons for this, it’s not any one single cause. Our healthcare system has been broken for decades. Due to the large number of baby boomers aging, more of us are taking care of our elders and finding out long-term care is not the quality care we thought it was. We also realize that the elderly population is continuing to increase and it won’t be too far in the future that the elderly population will outnumber the younger generation. This has a high chance of affecting all of us planning on getting older.
We have now formed an organization with a mission to “Improve the quality of life for the elderly and all residing in long-term care.” All in long term care are deserving of being respected, treated with dignity, and receiving acceptable long term care. We don’t have all the answers or this crisis would be easy to resolve. However, we have the passion, dedication, and persisitence to find the answers and do all we can to tackle the challenges faced one by one. Together WE CAN all make a difference.
Pictured below is Uncle Bill, his final story would be his most important story to inspire help for others
In Loving Memory - William P. Bennett
“Uncle Bill”
Uncle Bill was a dedicated Boy Scout leader in Johnstown, Pa for over twenty years. He prided himself in teaching scouts how to hike, camp and fish. He was also a member of the Sierra Club. In younger years, Bill was proud to work at Yosemite National Park putting out the fires the campers left behind. He loved to tell the stories of climbing Mt. Whitney, hiking through the Grand Canyon and fighting off bears when they tried to steal the food from his campsite.
Bill also wrote and was very proud of an unpublished book called Step by Step. He wanted to show how easy it was to learn to hike and camp. Bill was also a very loyal member of Memorial Baptist Church in which his elders were one of the original founders. He also was their dedicated Janitor for over twenty years. On 10-11-12 Bill came to Ohio to write the last chapters of his life.
Bill enjoyed and cherished the close bond he and his sister Louetta had, went to the casinos, played Bingo, enjoyed many restaurants and having so much family surround him with good times. Bill wanted everyone to remember that he did some pretty amazing things, cared for the welfare of others always in spite of the handicap challenges he had. Taking it step by step, anything was possible. One of his famous stories was "Thirty Days Under God". To work at Yosemite National Park, he hitchhiked across the United States from Ohio with a sign that said California. He only took $100. He camped out in his sleeping bag, others that gave him a ride took him to their home for dinner, and he stopped at many churches to hear the sermon and message from God as to how to get there. He was proud of this accomplishment. Now, Bill will have all his days under God whom he followed faithfully.