than when she was in her home with an aide. These places really do exist and they're working. They've even begun to convert some standard nursing homes into this model. I heard about one conventional older home in NY that decided to make each floor into a separate "cottage." The people doing the basic care stayed with their handful of patients on their floor, and the skilled staff (nurses, etc) rotated around the different floors as needed.
Some of the changes just involve training staff to be more respectful and flexible -- and that doesn't cost anything at all. For example, my relative had been in another home where she wasn't allowed to have ice cream -- her very favorite, favorite, food -- because some other patients couldn't have it. At her home now, she has brought her weight back up from a precarious 90 pounds to 120, where it should be -- because they let her eat what she wants, including a snack at bedtime. Her daughter can even bring her favorite ice cream in and they'll keep it in the freezer for her. Other people's relatives can come in and bake cookies or some favorite family dish. Grandchildren and dogs can come to visit (and the kids have had little performances there.) Once children from a nearby school interviewed the residents, and then stood up in front of the group and gave a little speech about the things they had learned about the resident's lives. Things like this make it seem so much more "homey" and contribute so much to the resident's happiness. And don't cost anything.
They don't have to run a nursing home like an institution, and they're finally figuring that out.
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