Charles Gibson,
ABC World News
Possibly the subject of Eldercare brings up a touchy subject for me for a very different reason than most. If either of my parents were living today I would not place them into one after the experience I went through in one myself. I am only sixty years of age and was placed in one temporarily by a doctor to free up a hospital bed until I was able to return to my home. I was highly allergic to something in the dirty rug where I had moved to, (my daughter cleaned it for my return). It was only a matter of a few days and I was able to come and go during the day as anyone would if they were in their own home.
What shocked me was their lack of care with administering medication to patients. I am on very critical medications and expect those medicines to be be available on the time schedule, no if's and or but's. There is no excuse for qualified personnel to make such major 'mistakes' as that.
They did not even notice that they had completely skipped on dosage of medication timing with me. If I did not carry medication with me and had not gone to my home to pick up the others I would have missed more than one dose of medication. It was not until I checked out of the hospital that I brought it to the management attention, showing them all the medication left over that should have been taken by that time.
I also saw what little they furnished for the seniors for activities. Theses seniors cannot keep a good outlook on life and how in the world would they want to live? Surely not with what little they had to do their. To me it was absolutely sickening. I lost my mother and sister in the same hospital of the same sort. To this day I do not want anyone to place me in a hospital of that type. I would rather my life to end first than go through living in a place like that again. My mind was intact. Many seniors are beyond that but they do not deserve that kind of treatment!!!!
Edited 6/29/07 by ABCNewsModerator1