Assisted Living unfortunately all too often
plays out like a soap opera. I do news alerts for assisted living
- which is a service that many news organizations and search
engines offer that allow you to receive daily alerts to your
e-mail box on the subjects you are interested in. I do mine
through the New York Times, and Google, and my subject, of course,
is assisted living.
Almost daily, I am surprised at the types of
articles that surface in the news sphere and blogsphere. They
often times play out like something out of a bad daytime soap.
Some of the more common stories are about assisted living residents
(most often with dementia or Alzheimer's) wandering away from
the facilities. Sometimes they are found safe hours or even
days later - confused, hungry and dehydrated. However, other
times, the story is not so happy, as these residents have at
times been found frozen in the snow, dead, or injured in some
other way.
I have seen many stories pertaining to food
poisoning, or where an entire facility came down with a food-borne
illness. Another story I remember was of a woman who got a hold
of some cleaning chemicals that were left out, and unfortunately
ingested them. She had dementia, and thought the chemicals were
juice.
In my opinion, assisted living is growing too
fast for states to keep up with regulation, and quality standards
are not consistent. Regulations and standards can vary from
state to state, as the federal government has very little to
do with how assisted living facilities are operated.
Pennsylvania, I am happy to report, has a new
group (relatively) who is pushing for quality standards in Pennsylvania
state regulations covering assisted living facilities. This
group, called the The Pennsylvania Assisted Living Consumer
Alliance (PALCA) formed in 2008, is a new organization of consumers,
family members and advocates for the elderly and persons with
disabilities.
I learned about this group in the same, unconventional
way that I often times learn about new news or things happening
in the assisted living industry - a member of this group posted
a comment on my blog. Actually, it was just the website address
and nothing else - but I did go to the website to find out more.
I learned that there are over 50,000 people
in Pennsylvania who live in what we might call assisted living
facilities. Unfortunately, in most states, the term assisted
living is very loosely used, and at times doesn't really mean
what it says. I have seen facilities list themselves as "assisted
living type care" or "assisted home care" - and
sometimes these "facilities" are simply someone's
residential home trying to pass themselves off as an assisted
living facility, when they offer sub-standard care, and would
fail most safety and food inspections. Many of them might be
operating without a license of any kind, or without adequately
trained staff.
This is why there are so many unfortunate accidents,
and thus, regular, disturbing news stories coming out of the
assisted living industry. Most elderly folks who choose to live
in an assisted living environment are not able to care for themselves,
or make rational decisions regarding their care and safety.
This is exactly why we need more regulations
and watchdogs in this industry - just as this group in Pennsylvania
is helping to achieve. The Pennsylvania General Assembly last
year passed a bill to license the fast-growing assisted living
industry - a good step - however, there is some concern that
the passage of Act 56 may be just "window dressing."
We hope more states follow suit. The goal in
the assisted living industry should be zero accidents, zero
deaths, and maximum happiness. Pennsylvania is most certainly
heading in the right direction.
- by the staff at Assisted Living Directory