Cultural integration in modern assisted living facilities and hospitals

¶ … Care Case Study

Slide 1 Footnotes

There have been enormous changes due to introduction of various cultural elements in the continuum of care. Before, when people were admitted to assisted living facilities or hospital settings, there were very little cultural elements outside of the majority culture which had sponsored the facility. For example, if a facility was associated with some sort of church or temple, there were elements of that religion present, but there was little alternatives for members of other cultures or religions.

Yet, today, there are now a much wider array of cultural elements available in assisted living homes and hospital facilities. Assisted living programs are regulated on the level of the state.

As such, different states have different types of programs and policies that impact the degree to which cultural characteristics are included or excluded within various assisted living facilities. Some programs encourage cultural elements of patients to be brought into the assisted living environment and have administrative bodies work to generate programs and offerings that appeal to certain cultures. In such cases, administrators work from the top down to provide various cultural or religious services to their residents, who can opt to participate or not to participate.

In other cases, it is left to the patients themselves to bring in their own cultural elements into their assisted living facilities. This was the case of Ruby and Irving, who were instrumental in their assisted living facility offering Jewish activities and religious rites, even though the population of Jewish patients in their specific facility was relatively low.

The majority culture is also changing the way it views these types of living situations. Before, assisted living homes were seen as drab and a dreary place to live by many outside of them. Today, the culture is embracing new ideas about assisted living because of changes in the design and philosophies of many of the facilities available today. For example, many facilities are now taking on a more resort-like feeling. This gives their residents a much higher quality of life, which is then seen by family and friends visiting them. With much more activities and amenities, these facilities are now evolving in terms of how the majority culture views them. As changes in technology continue to make life in such facilities more enjoyable, future generations will be much more accepting of life in such facilities than past generations.

Slide 3 Footnotes

Patients with dementia need to have some sort of stability in their lives in order to help ease their anxiety in various situations. The research illustrates how stressful getting medical care can be for patients with dementia, who may not truly understand what is going on. It is also true that "not every behavior can be reduced to a medical level."

Even though moving a patient with dementia to a traditional hospital setting may increase the potential for higher quality care that does not always mean that it is increasing the quality of that patient's life. In fact, patients with dementia may actually see a reduction in the quality of their lives and of the status of their condition when being moved to an unfamiliar location or facility. Moving a patient with early dementia might only increase its onset because it will ultimately increase the level of confusion based on having to deal with an entirely new surrounding. It is important to allow patients with dementia to enjoy a level of comfort and familiarity as they combat the disease in their more vulnerable state.

Thus, moving Irving to a different facility might only aggravate his increasing dementia. It may increase the confusion he may feel, especially in times where something is wrong or where he may need emergency treatment. It would be better to have him stat at the CCRC Assisted Living Facility, where he has been for six years and is familiar with his surroundings. Moreover, if Irving's dementia gets worse, it may also negatively affect Ruby. As she sees her husband of over 70 years get worse, her anxiety and depression may worsen. This would only be harder in an unfamiliar place, without friends or familiar faces. Thus, Ruby would also benefit from the two staying where they are. With their three children living out of state, the best place for them would be to remain at the facility they are in. If their daughters were closer, it would be easier to say that the couple could move back home with the help and care of their children. Yet, this is not an option, and as such it is best for them to stay at the facility where they are so actively involved in and have so many friends and acquaintances.