Hi there! EMT here. One thing John forgot to mention: Nursing homes get docked "points" every time they need to call 911, so many homes will purposely neglect to call emergency services when a resident desperately needs help. Instead, they'll call a transport service to slowly put-put the patient to the hospital. Trouble breathing? Sharp pain in your chest? Fell out of bed and bleeding? Too bad, wait 2 hours for a transport to pick you up and bring you to an ER waiting room to check you in behind everyone else waiting to see a nurse. If it's one thing I learned in this field, I pray to God I die before I need to go to a nursing home or an assisted living facility.
Theres no "points." They can have a bad percentage if they have a high readmission rate to the hospital but that means hospitals are less likely to send residents to the place
My dad was in a nursing home years ago. Because of living in a rural place, we could only visit him once a week. Coincidentally, the local newspaper came out on the same day as our visiting day. Before our visit, a friend came to the door with a newspaper, saying "why didn't you tell me your dad died?" She showed us our dad's obituary. He'd died after our visit the previous week and had been immediately buried. No one ever told the family he'd died. The nursing home refused to talk to us. Lawyers looked into the case but then said there's nothing they can do. You know how you can trust all of your neighbors in small towns, right? So much for those good ole small-town values. I may never know what happened to my dad, but I know that something was going on at that nursing home.
When my great grandmother went to a life care center, she begged me to come see her every day. She said, "They treat you better when they know you've got family."
Goddamnit, that’s so fucked up to know that’s something that exists, to know that you may be neglected because you don’t get any visitors or rarely have visitors is completely fucked up.
it is like that everywhere. Also in court. When you have people covering you, you are less likely to get screwed over. But, it is not a given... 'we' also know those people don't really have a choice. And it depends on many, many other things. I work in healthcare, not in the US though, some of my coworkers are just immensely overworked and they take it out on their clients, their own children, their partner, whatever. It is what a lot of humans do: deflect, point and blame, getting angry over seemingly nothing - as they are walking on their last legs.
Just my opinion but I feel like most other shows try too hard to try to be funny so they are dependent on people laughter to make the show seem actually funnier than it really is. When you talk about important and depressing issues you don't have to try so hard to be funny. A few jokes now and then is fine anything more than that you better get a actual comedian and do a comedy show rather than talking about such issues.
I actually prefer it this way. These topics are no laughing matter and I see no point in sugarcoating it. It’s time to face reality for what it is - dark, depressing, and serious. No more laughing your way out of uncomfortable truths.
Without a doubt, yeah. Seth Meyers might be a somewhat distant second, but John Oliver is definitely in a class of his own. The void is basically _iconic_ at this point lol.
I watched this with my grandma and she agrees with everything, but she wanted me to comment: “please stop making jokes about having relations with wolf plates”
sorry, wolf plates are the new adam driver. and no, I don't mean he's going to be making wolf plate sex jokes for the rest of the year. I mean that a wolf plate will be cast in the leading antagonist role in the next star wars trilogy.
As a CNA working in long term care facilities for over 4 years, I was ECSTATIC to finally see someone spotlight the horrors of this scam industry! Our elders deserve SO MUCH BETTER!!!
What's y'alls nurse to patient ratio there? The worst I've seen is 1 to 20, and I thought that was pretty horrifying, sad its even worse in some places. I work EMS and have to pick patients up from some places and it pisses me off how these people get treated. A few years into my career I had a serious conversation with an LVN about what the heck was going on and found out about how terrible the ratio was. A lot harder to be mad at the nurses working there when the system is set up to burn you out as soon as possible by giving you a job that it is impossible to do to the quality a lot of people want to do. I don't envy your job at all and sincerely hope things get better, the elderly in those facilities are mostly forgotten by the rest of society. I remember one time very early in my career I dropped off a patient at a nursing home who needed 1:1 care due to psych issues. When we got there with the patient, the nurse in charge refused to take the patient citing that they didn't have the staff. It became this big issue because their admin accepted the patient from the hospital and we were kind of in the middle of this fight. At the time I was pretty incredulous that the nurse in charge could even do that, but years later having learned more about the situation there really paints that situation in a different light. Changes the question asked to how greedy could the admin be to f**k over the nursing staff that hard when they were already at about 1:20 ratio or worse. They weren't a very big place too, so they had like 3 nurses there at night. Would have dropped their ratio to 1:30 at best. Imagine that. They wound up taking the patient after about 45 minutes to an hour of us standing around waiting and some sort of fight going on in the back ground with admin and supervisors and hospital folks on phone calls. I don't think I could handle working at one of those places for over 4 years, I've gotten in trouble for making a stink due to a messed up situation a few times now and I don't doubt the admin for those places make easy ways to fire people in the hiring contract. Ugh.
Agreed. I remember that my family was SUPER lucky with what place we chose for my grandmother (who had Alzheimer's and a drug addiction), and though I was young at the time, I could tell by comparison to other places I had gone to for volunteering that it was much better. I really hope people start treating the elderly with respect and revere them, instead of treating them like prisoners who need to be controlled or contained.
@@Bradgilliswhammyman If you want to be a CNA, work at the hospital or for homecare patients. Or you can do CMA and work at Drs offices. The best thing is to become RN, eventually.
I worked in the kitchens at one of those luxury ones, don't envy those wealthy elderly. They just get neglected and wind up dying alone and uncared for on marble floors.
I'm an accountant at an not for profit company in New Zealand, one of there division is nursing care facilities. Im originally from Detroit and I am 100% blown away at how the government takes care of thre retirees. Yes the taxes are high here but I'm all honestly its worth it in the long run
Imagine that, collective resources helping improve the quality of life for all at the expense of the richest. Will never happen in America. The rich have taken education away from their conservative voter base to convince them that taxes are evil so the poor will continue to prop up oligarchy voluntarily. This is capitalism.
i am in Canada and this is scarily too close for comfort....we have many of these same problems in Canada and we are supposed to have socialized healthcare. Its devastating and all this ends up doing is wasting government dollars. Proper preventative and supportive care in the community actually saves money in the long run. We have a backlog of people in hospitals because they cant go home safely and need nursing home level of care but cant afford anything else. But the people that can afford it dont want to spend their life savings.
@@visiblerat they might not be the most vulnerable, but prisoners are the ones with the lowest esteem in the eyes of the country, so their condition is a good metric for a country's standards for it's people
I’m a nurse by day in pediatrics and go home to take over for my mom taking care of my dad with Alzheimer’s. I can’t afford to pay anyone or put him in a home. We’re stuck cause we’re not poor enough for assistance but I don’t make enough to afford help. We’re just surviving one day at a time.
I can’t imagine how rough that is, but one positive is you’re a nurse and you have skills to help him in ways others do not. I know that’s no solace for you but at least your dad is in a tad better situation.
My dad ended up in a home while I was in college. I remember one day while visiting him, the woman next door to him was screaming for help. I went to go and get a nurse, only to find when they were all busy. And when I finally did find someone, I was met with “oh she’ll be fine”. And that was that. I took an extra job to get my dad out of there. No way a man who spent his career saving children from abusive homes is gonna spend his twilight years in those conditions. No one should. What a nightmare
I will say, just as devil's advocate, that sometimes people in severe dementia will frequently scream bloody murder for help when there's literally nothing wrong and there's nothing staff can do about it - my uncle was that way in his last year, while the Alzheimer's was taking him over. We looked after him at home, but he'd often start screaming for no reason, or because he no longer recognized us and was convinced we were government agents sent to seize him for various delusionary reasons - demanded to be allowed to go back home, even though he was in his own bedroom of the house he'd lived in for the last 55 years. I can easily imagine if you're a worker at a care facility where there are actual medical emergencies happening on a regular basis, being told that one of your regular 'screamers' is at it again probably wouldn't hold much weight with you. And is that an attitude you SHOULD take? No - nothing prevents a 'screamer' from being in actual genuine need of assistance or from having a real emergency - but from a human standpoint, you can at least understand why they perhaps gave the answer they did. It doesn't mean that they by definition just don't give a shit about the resident. It *could* mean that, absolutely, but it's much more likely that this was the result of a long-standing 'boy who cried wolf' situation that the caregivers have simply adjusted to by that point
@@Darasilverdragon Your grandfather was terrified and probably having a massive panic attack like mine used to, the doctors provided anti anxiety meds to combat those attacks. They worked well, you should have had them on hand too, both oral and IV. Rules of patient care state that someone in such a state should have access too or been administered an anti anxiolytic, strong anti anxiety medication. Any patient who is left screaming with no medical intervention is suffering from medical malpractice. Having these drugs on hand is common and to be expected if caring for dementia or alzheimer's patients.
@@Darasilverdragon Mostly what 999 FINE said But additionally by my experience, patients in normal nursing homes have lots of reasons to scream. They don't get cleaned and can't move, so their skin literally starts rotting. Whatever medical problems they have usually don't get addressed, which only makes them worse. Take it from an ex-EMT, whose job it was to transport people to and from nursing homes - these places are pretty damn disgusting if you can't shell out insane money for a nice one that's properly staffed. Take it from anyone working in the field: most of us would die before being subjected to the living hell that is a cheap nursing home.
Great job! I would've done the exact same thing. My father is in his last phase now and still living at home with me and his partner splitting the informal care (she's there 3/4 days a week, I'm there the other 3/4 days a week) just so we don't have to go through any of this. Luckily my country will never be anywhere near as bad as the US (especially the costs), but many places are understaffed and underequipped here too. I'm glad my dad will live his final days in the comfort of his own home
My mom spent most of her life working as an aid in nursing homes. At the last facility she worked at, she would tell me about how all these horrible stories. one time after she clocked in for her morning shift she found the night shift had left a resident in the hall the entire night. Forgot to put her to bed and I guess no one ran the hall like they're supposed to, so no one saw her. My mom said when she found her the bottom of her wheelchair was leaking waste onto the floor because she hadn't been changed for hours. so she was just left there sitting in her own urine and feces the entire night. That's not the only story either, but my mother honestly had an internal struggle when she decided to leave that place, knowing no one else was going to pick up the slack she was already scrambling and hurting her body trying to pick up, due to being understaffed and the staff that was there didn't do their jobs adequately. The nursing home she worked at was considered nicer too because it was privately run so they had higher standards than the state, but no one in those facilities enforces the rules due to being scared of loosing the little staff they already had. Super disturbing and sad, the whole thing.
that's terrible... my dad spent his last days in a palliative care centre, and I ordered a gingerale from glen the care worker (I'll never forget his name) for my dad. He passed and we're still waiting on that gingerale...
Thing is, the same people work at all the facilities, so there are going to be good ones and bad ones no matter where you go. When they get tired of the management at one place, they just get a job at another. And even the better facilities are still bad. (And they lie about their services to get you in. You don't find out how the place is really run until it's too late.)
I remember working with a girl who was doing volunteer work at a nursing home tell me story of a woman that was being ignored, her support hose were cutting off her circulation and she was in pain no one was helping her to remove them.
same! so glad he covered it. + Pennsylvanians: Tell Acting Health Secretary Beam we need better staffing in nursing homes! PA has the nation's 3rd highest COVID nursing home death rate. We've lost over 12,000 nursing home residents to COVID-19. PA has not updated its nursing home regulations in nearly 30 years. Email Sec. Beam today with this form! And follow Nurses of PA on social media! + Non-Pennsylvanians: For safe staffing campaigns in your state, look up your state/local nurses' association and/or National Nurses United.
I'm not old, but I am disabled. The horror of what many facilities do to vulnerable people is always at the back of my mind and it's about time we talk about it. Just because people are no longer "of use to the workforce" doesn't mean we aren't people who deserve quality of life
My wife works as a CNA in a nursing facility. Things are really bad right now, and she's running up and down three flights of stairs watching and caring for nearly 30 people by herself, all while wearing a n95 and a face shield with asthma and a heart murmur herself... All for just under $27,000 a year. At one point, about 53% of her residents and 25% of the facility staff were diagnosed with covid-19, and they were congratulated by the health department for being below average. Yes, at one point she caught the virus herself, and things got a little rough but she pulled through.
wtf.. 27k.. I pay my cashier and kitchen workers basically 25k+.. and your wife's job is miles harder it should be like 100k.. makes me want to open a dam facility and actually treat people right both the elderly and staff..
Not that I want to discredit your wife, but a lot of states have mandatory staffing levels and 1 CNA to 30 residents sounds suspicious because in many states that would be hella illegal. I know this because my wife is the ward clerk at a skilled facility. That said if she is having to manage 30 residents by herself, she needs to call the state nursing board anonymously because it sounds like some super illegal shit is going on and that facility either needs to lower its census or be shut down for being unable to adequately meet state guidelines.
When I was very young, my grandmother took me to visit my grand aunt in a nursing home. I will never forget the crying, wailing of the elderly, the smell of unwashed bodies, my aunt pleading to let her out and my grandmother hiding cash in the coffee because then 'the nursing aides won't steal it.' This same place twenty years later, was fined and closed then re-opened. My grandfather said if he was going into one of those places, to 'give him a gun and he would shoot himself.' My grandmother took care of him until he died but she herself ended up in a place like that. One night in December, she tried to escape and ran through the snow with no shoes on. With all this trauma I've experienced, I pray that I die long before I need one of these places.
Is it me or nursing homes are an american thing? In Costa Rica, where I live, the worst case scenario could be that some elderly people above 60 years old get abandoned but in their own homes but at least they are retired and receive, depending if they worked with a minimum wage job their whole life, basically a retirement fund equivalent to a minimum wage salary per month until they pass away and public transportation it's free for them. Do some americans value so little their elderly citizens to belittle them to the point where they should feel that, because they are old and don't need to work anymore, they shouldn't have the right to live at peace inside a house that they own?
Instead of praying for an early death, maybe you could try writing to newspapers, political representatives, tv-shows, or the likes? It's much more likely to help people who are stuck in nursing homes now.
As a Paramedic who frequents assisted living facilities and nursing homes. He's spot on. It's so rare you find a facility that's remotely competent. Sweet Jesus if only the general population knew.
Yeah... I got into EMS believing I was going to "help people" and now I know that I'm wrong. Helping people in this country is against the point. What a learning experience.
“You’re probably wondering why there are pictures of ponds.” I’m guessing someone fell in and drowned. “He got eaten by alligators.” Well, that took an even darker and sadder turn.
I work in an assisted living facility for adults with mental illnesses including dementia and schizophrenia and we receive no training. Everything I have learned is by doing my own research. I know not everyone tries to educate themselves to help these clients and that’s the sad reality I face everyday. It truly is exhausting- mentally, physically and emotionally.
That's why I shake my head everytime I hear people sing the praises of how great America is. How we treat our poor, elderly and mentally ill is telling of how not great we are. Why would anyone _want_ to live in a society that will basically throw you away when you're no longer of any use? Especially after you've already done your part to contribute. I shouldn't have to rely on my children (that I don't even have) to take care of me when I can no longer take care of myself. I'm scared of being old in this country. I have no qualms about tax money going to programs to insure our sick and elderly are comfortable and taken care of.
@@handlethesehands I didn't say other countries weren't bad or worse, I just said it's not great because of the way the poor and elderly are treated. Pretty much a global problem, though.
I’m a nursing student, when my parents said my grandmother was going to a Nursing Home last year and no one was able to take care of her. I advocated my Grandmother and told my parents that that would be unacceptable bc I knew why. She’s with us and we all take care of her. I rather she be here with us than these for profit facilities.
Hi Kevin martinez". You must have Graduated with GPN by now. or are you going for your LPN or RN . Sure many here would be in full interest to hear from you ?
Godspeed to you. I've been a CNA for 15+ years, and recently was witness to a coworker get her nursing license. I know it's not easy, and often thankless, but it means a lot to the people you're caring for, and their loved ones. (even if sometimes it *really* doesn't feel like it.)
Worked as a nursing assistant for almost a year at barely above minimum wage, and it was the hardest job I've ever had in my life, both physically and emotionally. Both they and the people they care for deserve much better.
Virginia, CNA work is already so hard, and it's inhumane under the current system. Staff and patients both deserve better. + Pennsylvanians: Tell Acting Health Secretary Beam we need better staffing in nursing homes! PA has the nation's 3rd highest COVID nursing home death rate. We've lost over 12,000 nursing home residents to COVID-19. PA has not updated its nursing home regulations in nearly 30 years. Email Sec. Beam today with this form! And follow Nurses of PA on social media! + Non-Pennsylvanians: For safe staffing campaigns in your state, look up your state/local nurses' association and/or National Nurses United.
As a kid, my grandparents looked after me and I enjoyed doing meals on wheels with my Nan. A lot of the elderly liked to tell stories and I had mutism, so I enjoyed listening. In my teens I was interested in studying nursing and working in nursing homes. Then I saw the pay and conditions and realized society doesn't care about us when we grow old. I opted to work in logistics instead and I get paid well and society cares about how goods get to them. If nursing homes treated staff and residents decently, I'd be interested in going back for that nursing degree. Until then, it's already a somewhat sad field and it's too much when you include how they treat staff and residents. So maybe that will never happen.
@@runningfromabear8354 for me, it's about people. You yourself value your wealth a bit more than the care of others. I switched careers a few years ago. It takes effort - apparently no one is willing to put that in.
When your country has such resistance towards nationalising healthcare, advocating for unions and even basic support for a minimum wage, you simply have no options for a rising tide to raise your ships. You have no ability to lobby for a raise in wage, better support for your own health (whether that comes from regulating and providing more flexibility for work hours, providing counselling and access to therapy, or increasing amounts of leave), or raising the standards of the equipment and facilities you have to work with. The end result is a system that only looks after those who can afford it (i.e. those who can live in the 2Chainz one with Versace plates) or are lucky, and screws everyone else. This is the thing that is most broken about America and, sad to say, no one who is president will ever be able to fix it. The businesses that have thrived on this system will never let it happen.
Been a CNA for over 15 years. It can be hard but also rewarding. I remember being worked to the bone for years as I proved myself. Until I became so well enough established locally by reputation as an excellent caregiver that I could pick own my schedule, etc. Now I look forward to going to work, (I'm there now...I have lots of time to myself lol), because I work nights and I am night owl and main task is to stay up at night and help client to and front the bathroom twice a night. The rest of the 12 hours are mine as long as I'm ready in case she buzzes for me which she hardly ever does. We get along very well and are constantly cracking each other up over some such silliness or other between nightly bathroom visits. About once every few weeks I'll get someone calling asking me to come work in their facility /home, etc. I politely decline for now. I'm happy as a one-one caregiver and wouldn't return to the stress of multiple client care if...well...if you paid me to. Lol.
I think they already bought it and know it will arrive soon. The canal was shut down, give it a little time....lol surely there isnt a stash of those in an Amazon warehouse here...but I wouldnt be surprised. People are stupid.
My step dad died of cancer, just a month and a half ago. I'm very thankful to be in Canada. Yes, we did end up needing to do much of his care, ourselves, but we had carers coming to our home 6 days per week, we had nurses and palliative care coming to teach us how to do everything needed (change his lines, inject his meds, keep him on oxygen, etc etc etc). We even had "relief" people, who would come to supervise him, if we had to go out. He - thankfully - did not last in that state for long. My mom was too stressed and sleep deprived to keep up with waking up every two to four hours to keep him medicated and comfortable. And he would have never wanted my brother or I to be doing the more "embarrassing" tasks for him. 😔 It's definitely not easy, even if you've been trained well and have plenty of help. Especially during the pandemic. 😣 But we felt a lot better, knowing we could call for advice at any time. He was a really good man, and a better father than my bio dad ever was. He deserved so much better than how he died. But we did everything we could for him, and we had a lot of help along the way. We'll miss him forever, but we're glad he's not suffering anymore. 😥
Having worked in multiple nursing homes this is all too true. I literally had a breakdown one day before work because I was so overworked, under valued, and physically couldn't give the care to my work that the residents deserved.
My wife works dietary in nursing/ALF places. She worked at one crappy place like that. She would come home complaining about how things were there. I told her goto the press and get a new job. She got a job at another ALF (this place IS 5* rated by me..I'd live there) she loves it there. They gave her $100 bonus for just going to work on time during a real bomb of a blizzard. Some places just have crappy management/owners but the best workers until they burn out for watching crappy management/owner work
I work in the medical field in Europe and all the things you listed point out to a burn-out syndrome it happens often with people who work in care,if not treated properly it can evolve into a depression.
I feel you. I work dietary but am in constant contact with nursing staff and they are 100% overworked, underpaid and under valued. On a good day there's 1 cna for every 10-15 residents. 1 med tech, LPN or RN for every 2 units(20-30 total). I sat with an lpn on her break after a shift last week so she literally had a shoulder to cry on. These girls LOVE their residents and the work they do but god damn its gotta be tough when you're caring 24/7 but no ones caring for you.
When we found out that Mom had a terminal illness, I promised her that I'd do everything in my power to keep her home as long as possible. I must admit that it was the hardest thing I have ever been through in my life but I wouldn't change it for anything in this world. My Mom didn't have to endure needless tests and/or procedures that wouldn't have extended her life anyway. She took her last breath lying comfortably in her hospital bed, in the middle of her livingroom surrounded by her loved ones. She left this world on her own terms and with the most beautiful toothless smile I've ever seen. It was a peaceful transition and although it almost broke me physically and mentally, I was honored to be her caretaker as well as her baby girl.💔 😇💜
That's an amazing work you did there; I think you can be proud of that. I think what enrages me most about nursing homes is that the unintentional neglect isn't happening because there isn't enough money, but because they are being run for profit, so people who have no clue about the hard work and suffering involved make cuts to up the profits, and their own career. Those people, as far as I'm concerned, belong into prison.
I’m glad you had the means to care for your mother. This is the way it should be. Unfortunately with income inequality caring for a parent isn’t always an option for those who do not have means to house and care for them themselves.
As someone who helped take care of one of his grandmothers at home whilst in college and then later my mom, this was a hard episode to watch. The amount of work, stress, physical strain and absolute mental/emotional pain was immense. Did I hate my life during those times? Yup, would I do it all again? In a fucking heartbeat I would. Doctors gave us books and pamphlets but there was never any training involved, just lots of trail and error. It's not like any kind of training could prepare a grandson to hear their grandma cry in pain and tell them they wish they could just die to stop their everyday misery. Reliving that nightmare with mom during her last few months was just agonizing and I really wish we had some kind of better system dealing with long term care for our elderly. I know a lot of people write off old folks for whatever reason but things hit differently when that old person has the face of someone who you know thought the world of you since the moment you were born.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I completely sympathize. The experience changed my perspective on life completely and where we will all be at the end of our lives. We CANNOT continue to ignore and neglect our elders!
I know that pain so well. I took care of my dad from age 15 to 24. When my family did finely get some help the care giver we were assigned didn't believe in masks and was a trump supporter who ended up giving my whole family covid. Ultimately killing my dad. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and if he was still alive I would still be doing it. If given a chance I would do it all over again. I loved my dad so much and the pain stress and fear that I had taking care of him in exchange for getting to keep him alive was worth it to me... I miss him so much :(
I hope it's a nice place, if not I hope you have nerves of steel, I have a mom who used to work at one and nephew who now works at a nursing home and I hear similar stories.
@@heyokexd2542 100% agree. I know its a huge burden but her future self will be so thankful that she didn't commit herself to years of suffering for the same pay as a Mcdonald's supervisor.
My mother used to work in long-term care and she really cared about the people she took care of. She said the worst parts were watching nurses do their best to take care of more people than they were physically able to, watching elderly people slowly lose their dignity in a system that didn't care about them, and having to tell people that they couldn't afford to live there anymore when there was literally their only option. She went from a lifelong conservative to a stanch universal healthcare advocate. She ended that job doing the work of two and a half people because of constant cost-cutting.
When we do surveys of providers or exit interviews for my state on support coordinators, which is what we call what your mom did, one of the main reasons they leave is the pay they make combined with the heartbreak they go through is too much and that's an aspect people don't understand. These type of front line service jobs have an incredible emotional aspect to them in which we ask people to endure an incredibly emotional job while often paying them minimum wage when they can go get another job, paid the same if not more without the emotional weight then wonder why we can't retain people.
@@jamesmarhen Another one of my biggest issues is the employee turnover! I HATE it for the residents! They're in such a vulnerable position to begin with and then on top of that they have different faces tending to their most intimate needs day in and day out!!! I worked at the same place for 3 years and my long term residents became like family. I actually looked forward to going to work most days and it always felt so good to see the relief on residents' faces when they knew I was there.
@@petek7951 LTC insurance is also written with a LOT of rules and can be very onerous to use. I work in social services, had a lady with LTC insurance that she applied for when she moved into ALF. Two years on, they have still to contribute any financial assistance.
I'm a CNA who has gotten out of the field after getting to a point where I knew I was being forced to put my residents in danger. I worked 6p-6a, so from dinner to when its legally acceptable to start getting people up. I was staffed 39:1 from 10p-6, but I had accepted the assignment for 6-6, being told I'd have someone else. They just wouldn't tell me that was the nurse who was also 39:1 for just her job. That was the same night I lost one of my favorite people. He was a resident at that LTCF for 16 years. He was a biochemist in the army in his youth. He spent years building a memory garden for all of his friends he lost during his stay. Two weeks before he passed, he told me how the pandemic just fucked his life. He had a schedule that kept him active and getting the social interaction he went there for, that all stopped at the blink of an eye. And even at that point, knowing he was on his deathbed, his kids couldn't see him because he wasn't on Hospice yet. His hospice would have started the next morning. Even worse yet, he passed at 2am. His body was still there at 6 am because my nurse was so overworked I couldn't wake her up. That was the moment in healthcare that forced me to see that my safety and wellbeing is more important than a paycheck. Facilities care about the money. Not the residents. Not the staff. Staff care about residents. That's why 70% of CNAs will used their own hard earned money to buy their residents foods they can't get in nursing homes, clothes to replace their holey ones, new shoes, entertainment items (games, puzzles, coloring books, crocheting or knitting stuff, scrapbooking), all the way down to wet wipes. Heck, at the same place, I bought a resident really colorful hair dye because she loved my hair so much. We had 7 60-70 year olds running around with pink, purple, and/or blue hair🤣
The concept of mini-retirement changed my life. I'm no longer waiting for some retirement paradise when I'm 65. It helps to know how to fund the lifestyle. You know, making money while you sip that piña colada by the beach does help. I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise.
Yeah, people miss that part. You don't jet out to Puerto Rico with your life savings. Proper investing and a good business acumen are big pluses. Invest in the stock market, real estate, build businesses. That's just it.
Safe to say not everybody has the skill to pursue investing. But it's always easy to follow the directions of someone who knows how to i.e an asset manager. You could earn anywhere between 10--40k with the right ones. Online businesses are a good bet too.
I might want to try out a manager this year, but the information on the internet is overwhelming. I know it's not appropriate, but you could mention a good one(s)?
More depressing is that we spend more on the military than the next 10 countries combined, but can't afford our elderly care. There's a detailed analysis on how the military industrial complex controls America on my channel.
*Before Covid* “Welcome to Last Week Tonight! Let’s get silly!” *During Covid* “Our country has so much depressingly fucked up shit that it’ll make you feel dreadful...”
I am a nurse in a long term care nursing home. I have very few residents we care for who could be cared for at home. One the the biggest complications is the round the clock needs of most of our residents. We monitor for incontinence, assist with bed mobility (to prevent bed sores), monitor for wandering and more. I agree the long term care industry needs changes but I would say the biggest issues are for profit business models, staffing ratios, and low medicaid reimbursement for care especially dementia. You should spend more time on the problems in dementia care because on top of being the most at risk there care is very poorly reimbursed because a lot of there needs are not reimbursable. Because dementia care has such poor reimbursement it’s often a neglected area in a home, first place to pull staff for shortages, last place to be cleaned, first place to cancel activities and last place for upgrades and remodeling.
I work in an nursing home and the staffing issues are ridiculous! We have a good amount of residents who could get by with at home care but the other 2/3rds genuinely need round the clock expert care. I actually agree with a lot of what John says in this video but people will still need nursing homes as long as Alzheimer’s dementia exist. What nursing homes need is better staffing because the fact that people need to be in nursing homes for extra round the clock care but a facility will still assign two people to twenty residents is mind boggling! The staff lost during the pandemic has already narrowed down staff enough but overworked and frozen CNA’s aren’t very eager to stick around let me tell you! And the more reliable staff end up picking up and being frozen till they’re pulling shifts that can last two or three days! If I have to hear “But we don’t need THAT many people for one floor!” one more time I’m going to ask why there are two staff assigned to 15 residents when four of those residents need at least two staff just to get out of bed!
My mom used to take care of her mother who was suffering from dementia after grandpa died. She used to come every morning during the week after her morning bus routes and get grandma up and ready and feed her, she then go back home and prepare dinner for me and my brothers. She was a strong and dedicated woman to her family. Occasionally I'd accompany her and assisted in caring for grandma, and I can definitely say that it was all a labor of love that I'd rather have done than to send my grandma to a nursing home. As a hispanic family, we would rather keep our elders with us as much as possible and know not to trust strangers with them for good reasons made abundantly clear in this video. Grandma has went to two nursing cares before she died, and one of them was incredibly terrible. Don't worry, she died in her home in peace, back to where she was born, in Mexico, in her sleep, during her final visit to her old place. RIP grandma, glad that we never abandoned you
As an immigrant I can relate. That’s kinD of the norm. Taking care of your elder family members at home. No offense but dumping your parents and grandparents in these horrible places is more of an American thing.
I really appreciate this, but as someone who comes from a partially Hispanic family (my father is Puerto Rican and my mother's father was Mexican) who has a mother in an American elderly home myself and dating someone who has his mother being taken care of at her home by a nurse full time (she is in Italy, so the system is different but still bad outside the USA), I can say there are no easy outcomes to this. I am personally very glad not to be taking care of my mother because it would have ruined my life. It isn't about "abandoning" anyone. My life needs to be lived - my mother went into a nursing home when I was 23 or 24 (I turn 32 later this year), and my partner's brother has been helping take care of their mother since her accident in 2003, and even with someone helping full time at home it isn't enough, and his brother often complains about his life being stolen too, and he is much older. This is a shitty situation for everyone involved, so don't look at this so black and white please.
My mother is a RN and started off as a CNA when she was younger. She doesn’t trust homes at all. My grandfather on my dad’s side was sent to a home (due to his illness being so specific that it was required) and he wasn’t treated well at all. Ever since then, my mother made sure to never send any of my grandmothers to a home. We made sure for her mother that she would never go either. I moved in with her when she was 92 because the college I was going to was near. I could take her out for food, keep an eye on her, and help her for any specific needs. It gave her a sense of independence as well. My mother would come down each week to check on her too and do the dirty work (she works two jobs, hard to balance time). Plus my grandma was able to get her favorite food which was KFC each week because I could drive there, so she was happy. As she got worse, my mom and sister came down more until we moved her in with my mother. Even then she was never going to send her to a home. But, with so much work on my mom and dads plate, they found a CNA that was able to come in a couple times a week to keep an eye on her while my parents were working. The first week was great, the CNA was sweet and my grandmother liked her. Sadly, my grandmother got COVID from her during the first week because one of the CNA’s coworkers she helped the day before. She pasted two months later in December of 2020. The thing is, if we left her in a home and this happened to her, she wouldn’t have been with us or able to live in such a nice space or her home for so long. She had her own bathroom, bedroom, and living area that was right next to the kitchen at my mothers. She would’ve never had anything that nice in the nursing homes she could afford. Even though the CNA’s company fucked us, I’m just glad we were with her till her last breath. She was in hospice at my mothers when she passed and we were all with her. If she was in a home and this happened, she may have died alone. Love you grandma.
My dad passed away after being on the waiver waiting list for a year. We theorized the government does this so that those in the list will age out by dying. This segment validates that theory.
My uncle, in the state of Washington, was able to become a licenced care giver and get paid while taking care of my grandmother. After she passed, he went into that as a career for awhile. I have nothing but respect for the people who do that work.
It's unfortunate familiy's don't support their loved ones more. I've had pt family call me to get their mom a glass of water, pulling me away from someone who was having a stroke to do so. Some balance would be nice.
I've been a CNA for 10 years and this is the most truth I have seen in reporting on SNF and ALF. I moved to independent provider because I couldn't stand the neglect that happened in the SNF I worked in. Keep on them John!
@@sleepingdogpro The reason a lot of this occurs is because the law prohibits nurses from doing things that make sense. For example, nurses should be allowed to put bars on beds when there is a significant risk or an ongoing pattern (at the very least) of a specific patient falling out of bed: eventually, the person WILL break a hip! They should be acting with good hearts, doing what they know is right. I don't think they should use NEGATIVE discression (harming people, punishing people, scolding people, etc.), but they SHOULD BE USING POSITIVE DISCRESSION and should be allowed to do that, especially if the family approves!!!
As someone who has family members who work in nursing homes and assisted living facilities since I've been alive, I appreciate this subject being covered. The things I hear about these places are brutal.
Two of my grandparents were essentially on Hospice in one way or another and died at home in relative comfort, though were both suffering. My grandfather on the other side was put in an assisted living home when he got major Dementia, his care seemed okay but the staff was incompetent about something major: my mother looked at his charts and found that his nutrient levels were severely deficient, she cracked down on them and he regained his faculties for several months. His wife (the linchpin of our entire clan, the perfect grandma) was still physically active and sharp as a tack and- I do not say this morbidly or sarcastically- it is fortunate that she died instantly in a car crash (she was totally competent to drive but lived on a blind hill, I feel bad for the teenager that hit her at about 60mph). Better to go in an instant than to feel your mind and body slipping into oblivion over months or years, quality of life over quantity of life always.
The CNA are overworked and understaffed and under paid. It's abusive to the staff and patients. Give your family members a hug (when we can again) and appreciate the work they do.
Just had a visit with my Grandma yesterday, who is likely going to need to move in with my mom due to her age. My stomach was churning as I watched this, imagining how if my mom and her weren't close that she could've wound up in a horrible place like in this video. My heart aches for all the seniors who have to live through this.
I’m not saying your wrong. But do consider that some people it’s not a matter of if they are close or not. My dad has cancer and is in his 50s so he isn’t in any condition to care for my grandma (his mom) who has severe Parkinson’s and dementia. But him and his mother have always been close. She helped raise me bc she lived down the street. She taught me so much about life and she even helped me get a head start in school. We just don’t have the resources or ability to care for her like one these homes. We try to be aware of her care and we have raised hell over so many things that the staff must hate us. But ultimately we have seen them begin to treat her and other residents with more respect. I’m just giving you a perspective…honestly I wish I could take care of my grandma, but I’m tryna put myself through college bc that’s what she’s always told me to do. I hope everything works out with your grandma and enjoy every moment with her :)
More depressing is that we spend more on the military than the next 10 countries combined, but can't afford our elderly care. There's a detailed analysis on how the military industrial complex controls America on my channel.
*Before Covid* “Welcome to Last Week Tonight! Let’s get silly!” *During Covid* “Our country has so much depressingly fucked up shit that it’ll make you feel dreadful...”
As someone who works in Adult Protective Services, it’s disgusting how little protection society provides the most vulnerable in our community. When things are “for profit” only the rich win.
I quit being a CNA and started working retail. I work way less hours, have barely a fraction of the stress, and I end up making more at the end of the month.
When you put it that way, it shows how UNBELIEVABLY fucked up our system is. Retail and food service sucks due to entitled assholes coming through constantly and having to deal with a generally unappreciative audience (probably a better word there but first that came to mind). Nursing homes based on what I’ve been told by a friend and seeing here, are a different level of soul crushing. All of this shouldn’t even be surprising considering how America cares about its veterans.
Now I’m curious why some people out here spending 60K-100K a year to put someone in a home when you can pay like two CNAs that money directly to get individually directed care that still pays them better. Medicaid should be covering THAT.
I was forced to take care of my father, dying of cancer, alone, on benefits. While my wealthy family mocked me for not “doing the right thing” and throwing him in a home... when I’d never be able to see him again because of Covid
Well, if that's not your relatives trying to talk away their own guilty conscience ... Sadly, I've heard that story before: one gets stuck with taking care of a relative, and the others quickly pull the "hey, it's your own fault, you could have stuck him/ her into a home". I know that taking care of your father was a huge task; I hope very much that you have the opportunity to recover from it. And be proud of it!
Yea we got lucky with my one grandmother her care facility was part of local hospital one or rare rare few good nursing facilities tho they only take patients from there rehab and then determine if they need long term after rehab
Give someone money and he'll buy some stuff. Give someone TONS of money and they'll use it to bend society into multiplying said money. Very mixed feelings about capitalism. On one hand it means I get to live in relative wealth (at least as long as I have a job). On the other hand it means the people with the most money and fingers in pies will always win, no matter how fucked up the things they're doing are.
The reason a lot of this occurs is because the law prohibits nurses from doing things that make sense. For example, nurses should be allowed to put bars on beds when there is a significant risk or an ongoing pattern (at the very least) of a specific patient falling out of bed: eventually, the person WILL break a hip! They should be acting with good hearts, doing what they know is right. I don't think they should use NEGATIVE discression (harming people, punishing people, scolding people, etc.), but they SHOULD BE USING POSITIVE DISCRESSION and should be allowed to do that, especially if the family approves!!!
He also presents solutions and positive things citizen's can do to get involved with what he talks about, opposed to the hateful narrative that most use to trick citizen's into hating eachother at the behest of profits
wealth distances folks, sometimes morally, so that we now have facilities where a few can profit off of this shit daily and not even have to see who they're harming and how, though they might already not care enough about others' lives, even if they were brought into facilities to see the shit they profited from i agree that it should be motivation for them to fix things, we just also have to deal with folks who focus on their motivation for profit while avoiding any lasting penalties
@@foobarmaximus3506 Interesting view, what do you mean because you're poor? Does this suggest being wealthy is the way to secure a basic retirement in your view if so how wealthy is that? Do you possess the wealth you imagine will gain you the retirement you expect when you can't no longer be productive? And what gives you the confidence in the amount of money or the revenue streams you manage to acquire will be respected by the caretakers of you while their sole interest in you will be to gain wealth in order secure their own salvation in your view? I'm not interested in answers as your political view suggests, I'm interested in knowing have you for your self thought this through and figured it out. cus, I would love to be confident in retirement as you are.
People in this country are terrified of aging and death. That is why we got to this point. It's no different from the practice of sending disabled children to institutions from birth.
This episode really hits home. I was a caregiver for my grandmother in her 90s for the last two years until she passed away this March. I was paid by a relative but I was definitely underpaid. I was honored to do it and I'm glad she was never in a nursing home but it was definitely difficult.
I upended my life, took a leave of absence from work, and moved across the country to take care of my mom. The experience depleted me physically, emotionally, and spiritually (mostly due to my siblings, who did everything they could to stonewall me.) I have a signed letter from her that she would reimburse me for my expenses during the time I was off work. (I was still paying a mortgage, had to pick up my health insurance, etc.) It came to about $36,000, which could easily be paid by her estate, but my siblings are refusing to pay me. (She's since passed so can't weigh in.) Their ingratitude just floors me.
What did I learn today? -I don’t think I want my parents in a home. -There are mice that don’t want to dress Cinderella -I need the wolf plate for “investigative purposes”
Thank god my family banded together to take care of my grandma in her last two years. She was never moved out of her home. We all were in rotation and looked after her.
I took care of mu mother with no help from the rest of the family. Sadly, as I've no kids, I expect to die alone because no one will be around to call 911.
@@ArchieStiglitz most families don't. They either bundle off their elderly to a home of uproot them and fit them into their own lifestyle. Both of them are hard for elderly to do. My grandma didn't want to leave her home and last 2 yrs of her life were hard for her. Thank god as in everyone agreed with no drama to live with her in shifts..
You presented in a much funnier way than my friend who used to be a CNA. She quit after her work related injury that they refused accommodate for. She would also occasionally have a mental health crisis and come to my home for days and refuse to answer her phone. It's a never ending nightmare for CNAs and patients.
Ya sometimes I feel as a CNAs that it's us and the residents vs the horrible system and management. I've seen some shit in my line of work and we just don't get paid or supported enough to deal with it.
That's always the worst part about companies understaffing their businesses. It makes it awful for the people being taken care of by the employees, but also makes it miserable for the employees themselves. Not only because they are given an impossible task, to do the work of 5 people yet also do it perfectly, but they also deal with all sorts of guilt about quitting or taking time off. People are already spread super thin, and you know all your coworkers, and you also know that quitting, or even just taking a sick day, will make their lives even more miserable. It took me a while after I quit a job to realize that I had no reason to feel guilty when the manager there kept getting upset because "nobody could take my shift" when I needed to go to the doctor, or when I tried to take a vacation with my family, but got pressured out of it. I gave him at least 2 weeks, usually a month's notice, I tried giving him like 3 months notice for the vacation, and it was a part time job. He usually planned schedules out only about a week in advance. It was just him being cheap and not wanting to have any extra people. None of us could exceed 30 hours a week, otherwise AZ law would kick in and give us benefits like lunch breaks. He scheduled us all for 29.5 hours usually, meaning nobody could cover anybody's shift without getting in trouble. I had all this guilt about "leaving my coworkers shorthanded," but I finally realized that it's entirely the fault of the manager. Employees need days off, and if you can't function without 100% of your employees there 100% of the time, you need more employees.
Pretty much why I stopped being a CNA. Between the companies I worked for never accommodating or even acknowledging my injuries or medical issues I ended up getting, patient's families wanting the best care money can by but only willing to pinch out a penny, the work shifts were fucking ridiculous, and no matter how hard you worked, the patients never got the adequate care that they truly needed
@@hambone4984 sadly my friend worked for private ones too and it was pretty bad even though they paid ridiculous amounts of money. Don't get me wrong she said many of the families suck, but it didn't seem to matter how much they paid the companies still suck unless you are a billionaire.
I cared for my brother when he was under going treatment for cancer. Flushing his pic line and administering inter-venious antibiotics were only a few things that i did for him. He was transferred to an end of life facility when it was known he was dying. I couldn't care for him at that point, it was too hard. Now I'm caring for my 81 year old mother who has had w stroke over a year ago. I'm lucky that all the stroke effected was some strength in her right side and her speaking ability. I am able to care for her at home for now. I do this out of love but it is taking a toll on me emotionally.
I get it. Hold on. Nothing is forever. Don't condemn your self for wanting it to be over. Give it your best, though your charge may or may not appreciate it, I think some Great Loving Presence does.
@@alexandradionisi7256 : I agree 100%. I raised money and even was an unpaid lobbyist for my local Alz Association chapter, but I actually never got a lick of help with my own spouse with the disease. If you’re not dirt poor, there’s no help available. And it will bankrupt you, even with decent income, once you have to place the person somewhere or get around-the-clock in-home care. The idea that a family member (usually a woman) can continue to take care of someone all alone or with minimal help, while working at least one job to pay bills, is insane, and we often end up terribly sick ourselves. My husband’s care, medications, and toiletries currently cost over $5,000/month, and that’s actually cheap. Friends and family start to disappear, respite caregivers steal, group and nursing homes (if you can afford them) are usually terrible. It’s a no-win situation.
Same here. My advice is to find some way to give yourself a short vacation and recharge. Any way that doesn’t result in their neglect. Just keep thinking and reaching out until you find a way to do it. That is all that has kept me sane and able to keep going. Caregiver burnout is very real and is not your fault at all. And just know that this random Internet stranger is very proud of you. You’re doing a great thing.
My grandmother worked as a CNA for 37 years in a long-term healthcare facility. She was a champion of unions and patience and this story speaks to me so clearly. I remember my grandmother said she did not ever want to go to a facility. Nor did she
Honestly unless you shell out for a nice, well-staffed facility, the ALF or nursing home is really what will kill you. Cheap nursing homes are actually hell on earth. The patients literally rot while alive as neglect worsens whatever condition they have. If that's not enough, you also go insane watching and hearing the screams of the painful death around you while the world doesn't seem to give a shit and figuratively throws perfume at it.
They arent opposite things when people know what they are buying. The problem is that we ignore the problems and that allows the companies to get away with a lot. Now, having said that, profit certainly does not *promote* care. It is, at it's very best, not harmful. I believe that our elderly require better than that.
@klye sam Haha, if you wanted to provide *care* you would make facilities that are for people who *need* care. If you want to make money you provide *bad value luxury alternatives* for people who can afford it and have no other choice because the alternatives are *terrible* If you can't compete with the luxury brands because you don't have the capital then you settle for lower and lower social classes by offering alternatives that are progressively worse depending on what the customer can pay, and you work on a throw-them-out-as-richer-customers-comes-in basis. Hopefully one day you can also make it to a luxury health facility that can charge a 50% premium on everything.
Reading these comments is terrifying but so educational. I wonder what the solution is if there isn't a huge change in this industry. Our elders are crucial to our society and they deserve the best. It just seems like the moment you're not a perfectly healthy young worker you're deemed expendable by society. It's heartbreaking and humbling as someone who wants to grow old. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories here.
In Germany there recently was a survey that came to the conclusion that nearly a third of all workers in the nursing industry plan on quitting their job for ever after the pandemic is over. We have the same problems here btw: ridiculously bad wages, insane amount of hours, and absolutely no societal recognition
Your talking exclusively from your perspective as a employee (which gives me a hint to your level of compassion), but what about the elderly beneficiaries? At least you have workers from eastern-Europe who do the job and care for your parents and grandparents! But who takes care of their old parents and grandparents? And what is the salary and working hours for those fiew care-givers that do work in these eastern-Europe countries! It's a huge problem of society in general, that will only get worse! And the whole approach might have to be changed...
@@purpleldv966 so, I'm talking from my perspective as a former Medicare insurance customer service rep as well as a person who has had many relatives in these facilities. What OP is saying has nothing to do with any compassion levels. Working at these places is HELL - and that's just what it was like *before* the pandemic. Low pay, guelling hours, violent and pervy residents. Middle and upper management is often kind of skeevy. Now the pandemic has cranked that up to 11. Patients are dying. Employees are dying. And there isn't enough room to properly quarenteen people. And the nurses that take care of these COVID patients can't see their family for fear of infecting them. This is extra bad since many of them have to take care of aging parents or small children. If you want people to do a job - no matter what the job is - you shoukd make sure their basic needs are met.
i turned 30 last Sunday and i lost both my parents last year 6 months apart. my dad died at 71 and my mom at 67. this video is why i knew 10 years ago, seeing their health decline rapidly, that i needed to stay at home with them. it was ruff. but especially in comparison to this video - being there for all the errands the last 5 years, almost all the cooking, and picking up my dad when he fell makes me feel like i did everything i could for them 💚💛❤️
Im so sorry that you lost both parents and so close apart. You showed them so much love. It was incredibly hard but you did it. They raised a wonderful human 🍀
What you did for them is so nice. While not everyone has the time and expertise to do it, what you did is ideal. Honestly, when old people start dying the thing they want most is to see you anyway. You did the right thing.
@@monsieurdorgat6864 thank you I just feel the world is a sad place and if some kind words will make this man or women’s day Better I will do what I can
You tackle the big and difficult issues, please keep using your platform to highlight these woeful American experiences. Glad you're here, thank you, John!
As a Nurse who works in LTC, do more!!! You haven't even barely scratched the surface. I can't even express how bad things are and that's without even getting into COVID crap.
I agree. But as a Registered Nurse who worked in LTC for years, it isn't the staff causing the problems. My staff was extremely dedicated to their work, and genuinely loved our patients. The Admin, though, was a different ballgame. We had to beg to get basic supplies, like Kleenex and Depends, and worked short staffed all the time because they refused to raise pay to compete with hospitals. Don't forget, also, that LTCs and ALFs aren't prisons. If a person wants to go out, even in the middle of the night, they have a right to go, even if it isn't the best thing for them medically. We could try to talk them out of it, we could call their family to talk to them, but if they wanted to go, we couldn't stop them. That would be kidnapping and false imprisonment.
The worst thing nursing home administrators do is purposely understaff EXCEPT when the inspectors come to check staff levels, which they always seem to know is coming, so THEN they have literally every single worker working. For that single time period. Then right back to understaffing. And somehow this counts as “complying with regulations.”
As a CNA I can confirm in my case that this is literally true. Administrators know full well that you don't have much of a choice but to take on extra labor because we are dealing with actual living people that themselves don't have much of a choice either. If you complain you get hit with "You're a nurse you signed up for this and you should want to do this because its your duty" its abusive nonsense
@@rolfs2165 they only see who’s scheduled that day at my work. Nobody really keeps track of who worked in my department except for my supervisor unless they are physically in the building. Even then the directors of the home are encouraging understaffing as a way to cut down on the budget. My supervisor is trying to schedule more people but her job is threatened when she tries
I worked as a CNA in a nursing home that covered everything from rehab to end of life care, and I can attest to everything in this video being true. It was heartbreaking.
Our grandfather was in a place that was $4k/mo and they neglected him and provided subpar care until he had a fatal accident. Feels like you can't trust anyone but yourself. We aren't even in our 40s yet and we're already planning on how we'll manage taking care of my Mother In Law so she can live the end of her life with care and dignity.
If the United States would be a company, at this point, it might be more reasonable to file for bankrupcy, sell all its assets, and rebuild something new. I don´t think that rotten corpse can be reformed.
My grandmother died last year from being neglected in a facility after just a week of her being there and us paying around triple for someone of her needs. Thank you for bringing light to this subject.
I’m a nurse... I have this problem constantly. Had 34 patients yesterday. My aides get little compensation for their work they usually have 20 patients... Literally can’t even afford my own family’s heathcare.
I was a CNA too for many years. Seeing what nurses went through made me decide to change careers. I decided not to become a nurse and I’m happy I made that decision. You sound like a good nurse who has empathy towards your patients and aides.💕
Yes. As Hubert Humphrey said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.”
Medical social worker here. I've done the nursing home circuit in my great state of Illinois and I vowed to never put anyone I care about in a facility. Seeing what I've seen, knowing what I know, my mother will never go anywhere near one.
@@teacheschem At home care if you are able. In many cases it would be more humane to turn your gran into fertilizer than to "commit" them to a Long Term Care facility.
My grandmother is 96 years old w/advanced dementia. My mother and aunt have been taking care of her for 20 years. It's reaching the point where she probably needs LTC but we can't afford it. This video just confirms my worst fears.
"What have you really learned from this video?" As someone outside the US with a close, older friend who is being forced by circumstance into assisted living, far too much and simultaneously nothing I didn't already fear. Thank you for raising the issue, John.
Everything that John has said in the video is obviously super important and needs to get addressed right away, but I thought I would share a positive experience with an ALF. After my grandma died, my grandpa was so depressed living in their house alone that we thought he was going to die within a few months, which is very common for elderly couples. We decided to move him into an ALF about 10 minutes from his house, and it was so wonderful for him. He had friends to eat every meal with, people to check on him daily, and I honestly believe it prolonged his life by almost five years. Living there gave my grandpa a lot of things he couldn't get from living alone or from my family with two parents working full time and two kids at school. Now, is every ALF like this? No. Should every ALF be a place where people can live out their final years with respect, community, and love? Yes.
Having worked at an ALF, I can confirm that care absolutely **can** be done right. And long-term care facilities that are implemented properly are **super** important for precisely the reasons you mention (among other factors, such as a person's apartment or house not always being built well for somebody who's experiencing increasingly limited mobility), as well as situations like the one that John Oliver outlined at the beginning: Family members often don't have the **thorough** training needed to properly take care of a loved one's needs - something that can pose a problem, even if the caregivers **are** properly compensated for their time. The horror stories absolutely need to be shared, punished (properly!!), and fixed, but I really, really wish the reporting was done without adding to the stigma of "long-term care facilities = bad and scary, period"/"the best solution is to avoid them whenever possible rather than fix them." The facilities that are bad and scary are that way because of shit-tastic regulation, inadequate help from insurance programs/companies, and unchecked greed coming from the top, not because the concept itself is inherently bad and scary. We have a habit in America of wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater whenever we see problems. Heck, we often seem to want to throw out the tub, too, because by the logic we tend to use, it's the (metaphorical) tub's fault that the bathwater ever got dirty in the first place and therefore we just shouldn't bathe ourselves ever again.
My mom actually got her university to sever its relationship with the nursing home she did her clinical training at, because she and her classmates all reported the abuse and negligence they saw every day. The stuff she described was so horrifying I nearly vomited, and I can’t believe it went on for so long.
The reason a lot of this occurs is because the law prohibits nurses from doing things that make sense. For example, nurses should be allowed to put bars on beds when there is a significant risk or an ongoing pattern (at the very least) of a specific patient falling out of bed: eventually, the person WILL break a hip! They should be acting with good hearts, doing what they know is right. I don't think they should use NEGATIVE discression (harming people, punishing people, scolding people, etc.), but they SHOULD BE USING POSITIVE DISCRESSION and should be allowed to do that, especially if the family approves!!!
I know a nonverbal dementia patient who was raped in her bed at a “nice” nursing home. The staff let the perp, an employee, literally walk out the door, never to return. They didn’t even take the victim to the hospital to receive care until 48 hours later, and only because her roommate said something to a visitor. The nursing home was sued and won.
I’m an RN in Maine, understaffing is completely related to underpayment. Nursing homes pay nursing aids less than what they make at the local fast food restaurant.
I somewhat agree. You don't need much training in the Appalachia of the North. My sister was essentially murdered in a so called nursing home in Maine...The so called CNAs get a few weeks of training...fed their patients like they are slopping the hogs, go out to smoke, and quickly do their chores so they can sit in the hall and chatter like school girls. My sister's crime? To be on Medicare with a stroke. "Oh you have plateaued in PT." ..after two weeks ( because medicare doesn't pay for more than that. ) After this they shoved her upstairs to an Alzhemier's ward, and left her alone, unattended, wouldn't allow her a two man assist to go to the bathroom etc. She died after being in this place after about 6 years...Imagine sitting in your own feces and urine because the fat CNAs are too lazy to get up, stop their chattering, and two man assist you to the toilet. Maine , it's medical malpractice, and its nursing homes are a criminal enterprize...It makes me want to vomit....OH yeh, I forgot , " The United States is the greatest country in the world !" NOT
Belive me when I say I get it, I work in these places, the workers and residents are utterly fucked seven ways to Sunday and there is little on yhe way of reprecussions for malpractice.
Not in the field, but know a thing or two about Maine and the way things work here... appalling. How bout that new Netflix movie? "I care alot" ..talk about, screaming at the TV ......
And just for the record, medicare and Disability benefits will cover the costs of putting young adults with physical handicaps and neurological disabilities in group homes for the disabled but they won't pay for programs for those people to work, be independent members of their community and get health care at their own homes, even though the former is more expensive than the latter in the long run.
My mother ended up in a nursing home for rehab after being in the hospital over a month with covid. I can say after her brief 3 week stay, I will never ever let her stay in a nursing home again!! She was assulted by a nurse, they continued to give her sugar despite her diabetes diagnosis and if she needed a nurse it took hourssss for someone to come. Thank you John for shedding light on this!!
My mother died at one of these places. My brother and I cared for her in her home for five years as her Alzheimer’s progressed. She spent her last two and a half years there. All I can say is we took a hell of a lot better care of her then they did! If you can avoid them for your loved one then do it!
All these facilities are designed to extract as much money as possible while providing as close to nothing as possible. Especially for people who have mental health issues
@@Praisethesunson and they exploit their workers on top of it. It's hard work with low pay, and most people do it because they care. People who care are the easiest to exploit.
@@PurpleDog06 Well obviously they exploit the workers. They neglect old people to death. It would be shocking if they didn't also extract as much out of their workers as possible too.
Thank you so much for featuring this issue John! This is a serious and deadly problem in this country and no media outlets or politicians about it. Families, unfortunately, can no longer stay home and take care of their loved ones 24/7. However, nursing homes are overcrowded and understaffed. Then there are the predatory private nursing homes of which you speak. We have many distressed people bring their loved ones with dementia to the ER with baseline systems. In such a situation, we cannot admit them because there is no acute issue, just their baseline issue. Theydon’t meet the criteria for admission in that instance. Therefore, they get sent back home in the same dangerous situation they were in in the first place.this has got to stop! It’s dangerous and inhumane to the patient! Thank you again!
I am a CNA and the comment of learning by trial and error is completely accurate. the training i got was mostly ways to avoid lawsuits and very little to do with helping people.
Sadly...its a business first and customer service is what we as CNAs provide. This rings especially true for agency home care workers...we have to refer to those we care for as "clients". If that doesn't say "for profit" I don't know what does!
Oh, absolutely. I remember when I started my first job over a decade ago and they had me work with another girl for only *3 days.* After that, I'd get asked constantly "who taught you to do that that way? It's not the right way." "I'm doing it the way the other girl taught me. Maybe yall should offer better training for the people training us." No one knew what the fuck they were doing the first several months of working at that place. Most quit, the rest learned via trial and error. Thankfully we managed not to kill anyone.
@@MegaKat I actually quit about 2 weeks ago. One of the main reasons was the poor training and exactly what you described. one group telling me to do it this way, another saying i needed to do that at this time, ect, ect, ect. it was never ending and i was just suppose to have figured this all out on my own and i just oculd not take the overnight shift with the VERY hostile day crew who were more interested in complaining behind my back then helping to train me.
@@jotver covid has been amazing for me. I work only with one patient now, under the table, because he's a great dude, Vietnam Vet, former medic and fireman. No use of his left side at all but still lives alone and manages better than I've ever seen a stroke pt. I stopped working when covid hit because I have 3 kids and suddenly had to be able to teach them. Quitting my job felt awful at the time but now it feels amazing. I had no clue how much I was stressed out until I'd gotten a vacation! Still help my favorite patient ever gets his shower and clean his house, but that ain't work, not even close to how hard I broke my back for my job over a year ago.
When my grandmother died last December, it was in the middle of the night. The caretakers there took my grandfather and told him not that she had already died, but that she was about to- so that he could live his life believing he was there on her deathbed. Care like that, heck, even basic human decency *shouldn't come with a price tag.*
My dad had ALS and for the last 5-6 years of his life my mom was his primary caregiver, she was at home making sure he was okay almost 24/7 and only got to go out when the VA caregiver came once a week for about 4 hours. She is the strongest and most compassionate person I have ever known.
“Where do you see yourself in five years?” “Watching Last Week Tonight to take my mind off of the spider invasion while huddled under my bedsheets with my favorite wolf plate.”
I'm petrified of getting old because of this. I already have depression, can you imagine being neglected, vulnerable, and relying on a bunch of strangers who are there for a paycheck that they are not happy with?
Get long term care insurance and make sure you have someone who you trust as your POA. Most importantly. Make sure you have some checking up on you constantly
To be fair, the people who are directly care givers do care. Otherwise a lot of them would do this very hard job for such little money. Of course there some bad people too, but it's not there fault when there so understaffed and not properly trained. Many of them getting diseases like burn out from this jobs. I know a story about one person, who jelled at someone with dementia, because there were eating to slow. Because they just didn't have enough time to give him the time he needed to eat and the nurse wasn't even aware how horrible this is for the the patient.
@@orarias313 my friends dad elected a POA that he thought he trusted and when he got Alzheimers they bailed to do anything for him. Hording his hard earned money for their inheritance vs for his care.
At the end of five years of full-time caregiving for my mom, unpaid, I ended up disabled myself and unable to re-enter the workforce. The domino effect of financial decline was predictable but unexpected and bewildering.
Disabled yourself? Let me guess, multiple falls? Hopefully not your tailbone, I work in Home Health, and I fell on my porch 4 months ago -- fracturing it. Then last week, my client disregards my warnings, tells me to fuck off, and attempts to force his wheelchair over a wooden hump in the floor. He tipped it backwards. He's an amputee, so he couldn't help in getting himself up, so I had to push him AND his wheelchair up from behind. Sprained my wrist in the process, I know how you feel and I"m sorry.
In Canada we have the same problem. We as a society have to treat our elderly a lot better. I say start by doing away with these for profit homes all together. They are a cancer.
Never forget the women at a Brookdale facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma who was left on a bus for nearly 29 hours where she ultimately died of hyperthermia. The temperature outside for that time period was around 90° F and her core body temperature at the scene measured to be around 102-104° F. This scenic drive they went on took place on August 27th at 1pm, they returned an hour or so later and her body wasn’t found until August 28th at 7pm, this took place in 2016.
As if that wasn't stomach churning enough for everyone in general, it happened one day after my grandpa died (in a considerably less horrifying way). I feel sad and angry every August 20 and 26 since 2016, even though my birthday is that week. I doubt I'm going to forget the story you just told me, and I wonder if I'll have strong feelings during next 27 and 28 too. I'm tearing up while writing this.
I was a dietary aid 25 years ago and the residents got quality care. The ratio was 5 to one, now it's 20 to one. (Same place) Although I was no longer there when I was I had to fight for my residents to get quality food. The people get a bath every 3 days. You better have family to advocate for you or you are out of luck
1:33 „Put your phone down and look at me when I'm talking to you.“
Me watching this on my phone: *confused*
Me: *Confused screaming*
Me, watching on my PC while playing a mobile game: scared af
I was going to comment this as well.
Same
Me: internal screaming
Hi there! EMT here. One thing John forgot to mention: Nursing homes get docked "points" every time they need to call 911, so many homes will purposely neglect to call emergency services when a resident desperately needs help. Instead, they'll call a transport service to slowly put-put the patient to the hospital. Trouble breathing? Sharp pain in your chest? Fell out of bed and bleeding? Too bad, wait 2 hours for a transport to pick you up and bring you to an ER waiting room to check you in behind everyone else waiting to see a nurse.
If it's one thing I learned in this field, I pray to God I die before I need to go to a nursing home or an assisted living facility.
wtf
thank you for your service but what in the flying hell i hope you're kidding
thats not true
Theres no "points." They can have a bad percentage if they have a high readmission rate to the hospital but that means hospitals are less likely to send residents to the place
Amen. Me too.
My dad was in a nursing home years ago. Because of living in a rural place, we could only visit him once a week. Coincidentally, the local newspaper came out on the same day as our visiting day. Before our visit, a friend came to the door with a newspaper, saying "why didn't you tell me your dad died?" She showed us our dad's obituary. He'd died after our visit the previous week and had been immediately buried. No one ever told the family he'd died. The nursing home refused to talk to us. Lawyers looked into the case but then said there's nothing they can do. You know how you can trust all of your neighbors in small towns, right? So much for those good ole small-town values. I may never know what happened to my dad, but I know that something was going on at that nursing home.
If they did that...trust me.. your dad died because of something that could of been prevented.
I'm so sorry your family had to go through that.
That is really sad. I would be really confused and probably angry in your shoes. Condolences, your comment really hits hard.
WTF?! There should be a full investigation to find out what happened! Sounds very suspicious. I'm so sorry for your loss! :(
Holy fuck that’s awful
When my great grandmother went to a life care center, she begged me to come see her every day. She said, "They treat you better when they know you've got family."
11 years a LTC worker, this is true
Goddamnit, that’s so fucked up to know that’s something that exists, to know that you may be neglected because you don’t get any visitors or rarely have visitors is completely fucked up.
I can 100% attest to that, the same thing is true in hospitals...
😓😓😓😓😓😢😢😢😢😢😢
it is like that everywhere. Also in court. When you have people covering you, you are less likely to get screwed over. But, it is not a given... 'we' also know those people don't really have a choice. And it depends on many, many other things. I work in healthcare, not in the US though, some of my coworkers are just immensely overworked and they take it out on their clients, their own children, their partner, whatever. It is what a lot of humans do: deflect, point and blame, getting angry over seemingly nothing - as they are walking on their last legs.
I think it's safe to say this show transitioned into having no studio audience better than any other talk show.
I still miss the studio audience tho
Just my opinion but I feel like most other shows try too hard to try to be funny so they are dependent on people laughter to make the show seem actually funnier than it really is. When you talk about important and depressing issues you don't have to try so hard to be funny. A few jokes now and then is fine anything more than that you better get a actual comedian and do a comedy show rather than talking about such issues.
No studio audience has somehow turned this show into a dark and depressing investigative report on how fucked up America truly is.
I actually prefer it this way. These topics are no laughing matter and I see no point in sugarcoating it. It’s time to face reality for what it is - dark, depressing, and serious. No more laughing your way out of uncomfortable truths.
Without a doubt, yeah. Seth Meyers might be a somewhat distant second, but John Oliver is definitely in a class of his own. The void is basically _iconic_ at this point lol.
I watched this with my grandma and she agrees with everything, but she wanted me to comment: “please stop making jokes about having relations with wolf plates”
sorry, wolf plates are the new adam driver. and no, I don't mean he's going to be making wolf plate sex jokes for the rest of the year. I mean that a wolf plate will be cast in the leading antagonist role in the next star wars trilogy.
based and platefetishpilled
Put your phone down!
Your grandma is my hero 🦸♀️
Yes, Gam Gam
As a CNA working in long term care facilities for over 4 years, I was ECSTATIC to finally see someone spotlight the horrors of this scam industry!
Our elders deserve SO MUCH BETTER!!!
What's y'alls nurse to patient ratio there? The worst I've seen is 1 to 20, and I thought that was pretty horrifying, sad its even worse in some places. I work EMS and have to pick patients up from some places and it pisses me off how these people get treated. A few years into my career I had a serious conversation with an LVN about what the heck was going on and found out about how terrible the ratio was. A lot harder to be mad at the nurses working there when the system is set up to burn you out as soon as possible by giving you a job that it is impossible to do to the quality a lot of people want to do. I don't envy your job at all and sincerely hope things get better, the elderly in those facilities are mostly forgotten by the rest of society.
I remember one time very early in my career I dropped off a patient at a nursing home who needed 1:1 care due to psych issues. When we got there with the patient, the nurse in charge refused to take the patient citing that they didn't have the staff. It became this big issue because their admin accepted the patient from the hospital and we were kind of in the middle of this fight. At the time I was pretty incredulous that the nurse in charge could even do that, but years later having learned more about the situation there really paints that situation in a different light. Changes the question asked to how greedy could the admin be to f**k over the nursing staff that hard when they were already at about 1:20 ratio or worse. They weren't a very big place too, so they had like 3 nurses there at night. Would have dropped their ratio to 1:30 at best. Imagine that. They wound up taking the patient after about 45 minutes to an hour of us standing around waiting and some sort of fight going on in the back ground with admin and supervisors and hospital folks on phone calls.
I don't think I could handle working at one of those places for over 4 years, I've gotten in trouble for making a stink due to a messed up situation a few times now and I don't doubt the admin for those places make easy ways to fire people in the hiring contract. Ugh.
I almost became a CNA Covid hit and I'm glad I did not get stuck working in a nursing home.
Agreed. I remember that my family was SUPER lucky with what place we chose for my grandmother (who had Alzheimer's and a drug addiction), and though I was young at the time, I could tell by comparison to other places I had gone to for volunteering that it was much better. I really hope people start treating the elderly with respect and revere them, instead of treating them like prisoners who need to be controlled or contained.
@@Bradgilliswhammyman If you want to be a CNA, work at the hospital or for homecare patients. Or you can do CMA and work at Drs offices. The best thing is to become RN, eventually.
I worked in the kitchens at one of those luxury ones, don't envy those wealthy elderly. They just get neglected and wind up dying alone and uncared for on marble floors.
I'm an accountant at an not for profit company in New Zealand, one of there division is nursing care facilities. Im originally from Detroit and I am 100% blown away at how the government takes care of thre retirees. Yes the taxes are high here but I'm all honestly its worth it in the long run
New Zealand doesn't even have very high taxes, it's just that people think any tax is bad and "the lower the better" is somehow how it should work.
I only really think the GST is too high here and that the wealthiest should pay more
Hello from Australia, kiwi cousin. I'm in disability support and just wanted to add: long live NDIS.
Imagine that, collective resources helping improve the quality of life for all at the expense of the richest. Will never happen in America. The rich have taken education away from their conservative voter base to convince them that taxes are evil so the poor will continue to prop up oligarchy voluntarily. This is capitalism.
i am in Canada and this is scarily too close for comfort....we have many of these same problems in Canada and we are supposed to have socialized healthcare. Its devastating and all this ends up doing is wasting government dollars. Proper preventative and supportive care in the community actually saves money in the long run. We have a backlog of people in hospitals because they cant go home safely and need nursing home level of care but cant afford anything else. But the people that can afford it dont want to spend their life savings.
"How a society treats its most vulnerable is always the measure of its humanity."
Hey google what does "Humanity" mean?🤔
@@themeanestkitten how humane the society is
I've heard the same thing about prisoners - although I guess you could argue that they are a society's most vulnerable
@@visiblerat they might not be the most vulnerable, but prisoners are the ones with the lowest esteem in the eyes of the country, so their condition is a good metric for a country's standards for it's people
USA humanity scale = NULL
I’m a nurse by day in pediatrics and go home to take over for my mom taking care of my dad with Alzheimer’s. I can’t afford to pay anyone or put him in a home. We’re stuck cause we’re not poor enough for assistance but I don’t make enough to afford help. We’re just surviving one day at a time.
Thank you for your services in the medicial field and for being there for him to help your mom.
Im sorry :(
I can’t imagine how rough that is, but one positive is you’re a nurse and you have skills to help him in ways others do not. I know that’s no solace for you but at least your dad is in a tad better situation.
God bless you and your family❤️
You still want to put him in a home after hearing these horror stories?
My dad ended up in a home while I was in college. I remember one day while visiting him, the woman next door to him was screaming for help. I went to go and get a nurse, only to find when they were all busy. And when I finally did find someone, I was met with “oh she’ll be fine”. And that was that.
I took an extra job to get my dad out of there. No way a man who spent his career saving children from abusive homes is gonna spend his twilight years in those conditions. No one should. What a nightmare
Thank you for being so brave and getting somebody out of that hell
I will say, just as devil's advocate, that sometimes people in severe dementia will frequently scream bloody murder for help when there's literally nothing wrong and there's nothing staff can do about it - my uncle was that way in his last year, while the Alzheimer's was taking him over. We looked after him at home, but he'd often start screaming for no reason, or because he no longer recognized us and was convinced we were government agents sent to seize him for various delusionary reasons - demanded to be allowed to go back home, even though he was in his own bedroom of the house he'd lived in for the last 55 years.
I can easily imagine if you're a worker at a care facility where there are actual medical emergencies happening on a regular basis, being told that one of your regular 'screamers' is at it again probably wouldn't hold much weight with you.
And is that an attitude you SHOULD take? No - nothing prevents a 'screamer' from being in actual genuine need of assistance or from having a real emergency - but from a human standpoint, you can at least understand why they perhaps gave the answer they did. It doesn't mean that they by definition just don't give a shit about the resident. It *could* mean that, absolutely, but it's much more likely that this was the result of a long-standing 'boy who cried wolf' situation that the caregivers have simply adjusted to by that point
@@Darasilverdragon Your grandfather was terrified and probably having a massive panic attack like mine used to, the doctors provided anti anxiety meds to combat those attacks. They worked well, you should have had them on hand too, both oral and IV. Rules of patient care state that someone in such a state should have access too or been administered an anti anxiolytic, strong anti anxiety medication. Any patient who is left screaming with no medical intervention is suffering from medical malpractice.
Having these drugs on hand is common and to be expected if caring for dementia or alzheimer's patients.
@@Darasilverdragon Mostly what 999 FINE said
But additionally by my experience, patients in normal nursing homes have lots of reasons to scream. They don't get cleaned and can't move, so their skin literally starts rotting. Whatever medical problems they have usually don't get addressed, which only makes them worse. Take it from an ex-EMT, whose job it was to transport people to and from nursing homes - these places are pretty damn disgusting if you can't shell out insane money for a nice one that's properly staffed. Take it from anyone working in the field: most of us would die before being subjected to the living hell that is a cheap nursing home.
Great job! I would've done the exact same thing. My father is in his last phase now and still living at home with me and his partner splitting the informal care (she's there 3/4 days a week, I'm there the other 3/4 days a week) just so we don't have to go through any of this.
Luckily my country will never be anywhere near as bad as the US (especially the costs), but many places are understaffed and underequipped here too. I'm glad my dad will live his final days in the comfort of his own home
My mom spent most of her life working as an aid in nursing homes. At the last facility she worked at, she would tell me about how all these horrible stories. one time after she clocked in for her morning shift she found the night shift had left a resident in the hall the entire night. Forgot to put her to bed and I guess no one ran the hall like they're supposed to, so no one saw her. My mom said when she found her the bottom of her wheelchair was leaking waste onto the floor because she hadn't been changed for hours. so she was just left there sitting in her own urine and feces the entire night. That's not the only story either, but my mother honestly had an internal struggle when she decided to leave that place, knowing no one else was going to pick up the slack she was already scrambling and hurting her body trying to pick up, due to being understaffed and the staff that was there didn't do their jobs adequately. The nursing home she worked at was considered nicer too because it was privately run so they had higher standards than the state, but no one in those facilities enforces the rules due to being scared of loosing the little staff they already had. Super disturbing and sad, the whole thing.
7
that's terrible... my dad spent his last days in a palliative care centre, and I ordered a gingerale from glen the care worker (I'll never forget his name) for my dad. He passed and we're still waiting on that gingerale...
Thing is, the same people work at all the facilities, so there are going to be good ones and bad ones no matter where you go. When they get tired of the management at one place, they just get a job at another. And even the better facilities are still bad. (And they lie about their services to get you in. You don't find out how the place is really run until it's too late.)
Wow!😢
I remember working with a girl who was doing volunteer work at a nursing home tell me story of a woman that was being ignored, her support hose were cutting off her circulation and she was in pain no one was helping her to remove them.
THANK YOU JOHN OLIVER. I have been a CNA for 10 years and not one thing in this video was exaggerated. Needs attention immediately.
2007 criminal capitalist world financial crash
Sadly, all John said is spot on. The stories we CNA's could tell. Nothing he said was fabricated.
Thanks so much for all you do! Such an important and under-appreciated job!
Elder care and early education staff are also underpaid and exploited
same! so glad he covered it.
+ Pennsylvanians: Tell Acting Health Secretary Beam we need better staffing in nursing homes!
PA has the nation's 3rd highest COVID nursing home death rate. We've lost over 12,000 nursing home residents to COVID-19. PA has not updated its nursing home regulations in nearly 30 years.
Email Sec. Beam today with this form! And follow Nurses of PA on social media!
+ Non-Pennsylvanians: For safe staffing campaigns in your state, look up your state/local nurses' association and/or National Nurses United.
I'm not old, but I am disabled. The horror of what many facilities do to vulnerable people is always at the back of my mind and it's about time we talk about it. Just because people are no longer "of use to the workforce" doesn't mean we aren't people who deserve quality of life
I agree. The problem is that business and politicians dont because if you cant make them money then they dont give a fuck
The contrast of the comment and the profile picture is striking.
@@john.dough. duality of man, baby
Its almost like people in general have value outside of being a cog in a corp machine or something.... Hmmm
Sadly we are only valued by what we do for a living,Artists and other creative have.very little value in America.,Not 9-5 you are worthless
My wife works as a CNA in a nursing facility. Things are really bad right now, and she's running up and down three flights of stairs watching and caring for nearly 30 people by herself, all while wearing a n95 and a face shield with asthma and a heart murmur herself... All for just under $27,000 a year.
At one point, about 53% of her residents and 25% of the facility staff were diagnosed with covid-19, and they were congratulated by the health department for being below average.
Yes, at one point she caught the virus herself, and things got a little rough but she pulled through.
Congratulated, but it stopped there I'm sure...sucks bro...I don't know what else to say...stay strong for the both of you.
wtf.. 27k.. I pay my cashier and kitchen workers basically 25k+.. and your wife's job is miles harder it should be like 100k.. makes me want to open a dam facility and actually treat people right both the elderly and staff..
Not that I want to discredit your wife, but a lot of states have mandatory staffing levels and 1 CNA to 30 residents sounds suspicious because in many states that would be hella illegal.
I know this because my wife is the ward clerk at a skilled facility.
That said if she is having to manage 30 residents by herself, she needs to call the state nursing board anonymously because it sounds like some super illegal shit is going on and that facility either needs to lower its census or be shut down for being unable to adequately meet state guidelines.
I’m a nurse and right now I have 40 patients to take care of and 20 of them are rehab patients it’s a fucking nightmare
I've 2 friends that are cna's, and their experiences mirror your wife's.
When I was very young, my grandmother took me to visit my grand aunt in a nursing home. I will never forget the crying, wailing of the elderly, the smell of unwashed bodies, my aunt pleading to let her out and my grandmother hiding cash in the coffee because then 'the nursing aides won't steal it.' This same place twenty years later, was fined and closed then re-opened. My grandfather said if he was going into one of those places, to 'give him a gun and he would shoot himself.' My grandmother took care of him until he died but she herself ended up in a place like that. One night in December, she tried to escape and ran through the snow with no shoes on. With all this trauma I've experienced, I pray that I die long before I need one of these places.
Which country you stay in?
the effectiveness of prayers is what got 'you'/usa into the situation. try something sensible instead.
Wow. That's horrific
Is it me or nursing homes are an american thing? In Costa Rica, where I live, the worst case scenario could be that some elderly people above 60 years old get abandoned but in their own homes but at least they are retired and receive, depending if they worked with a minimum wage job their whole life, basically a retirement fund equivalent to a minimum wage salary per month until they pass away and public transportation it's free for them.
Do some americans value so little their elderly citizens to belittle them to the point where they should feel that, because they are old and don't need to work anymore, they shouldn't have the right to live at peace inside a house that they own?
Instead of praying for an early death, maybe you could try writing to newspapers, political representatives, tv-shows, or the likes?
It's much more likely to help people who are stuck in nursing homes now.
As a Paramedic who frequents assisted living facilities and nursing homes. He's spot on. It's so rare you find a facility that's remotely competent. Sweet Jesus if only the general population knew.
Yeah... I got into EMS believing I was going to "help people" and now I know that I'm wrong. Helping people in this country is against the point. What a learning experience.
The only thing that matters is money.
@@scooprussell930 So you agree with the Bible. "The love of money is the root of all evil".
Correction. if only the general population cared enough
@@PaperiLiidokki Correction: if only the people in charge actually had a f*cking heart
“You’re probably wondering why there are pictures of ponds.” I’m guessing someone fell in and drowned. “He got eaten by alligators.” Well, that took an even darker and sadder turn.
ugh my home state to. shits rough yo
Well if it helps, he probably died quicker than if he drowned because of the “death roll”.
This was my exact thought process lmao
poor gaters, the guy was probably all gristle
I’d just call it more exciting. We like our gators, and what’s life without a little risk?
Water moccasins scare me more.
I work in an assisted living facility for adults with mental illnesses including dementia and schizophrenia and we receive no training. Everything I have learned is by doing my own research. I know not everyone tries to educate themselves to help these clients and that’s the sad reality I face everyday. It truly is exhausting- mentally, physically and emotionally.
That's why I shake my head everytime I hear people sing the praises of how great America is. How we treat our poor, elderly and mentally ill is telling of how not great we are. Why would anyone _want_ to live in a society that will basically throw you away when you're no longer of any use? Especially after you've already done your part to contribute. I shouldn't have to rely on my children (that I don't even have) to take care of me when I can no longer take care of myself. I'm scared of being old in this country. I have no qualms about tax money going to programs to insure our sick and elderly are comfortable and taken care of.
I totally agree with you. Our system for taking care of the elderly is horrendous.
@@handlethesehands So because somewhere is shittier than the USA, it makes the USA great. I love this kind of logic.
They don't have to pay more for untrained workers.
@@handlethesehands I didn't say other countries weren't bad or worse, I just said it's not great because of the way the poor and elderly are treated. Pretty much a global problem, though.
I’m a nursing student, when my parents said my grandmother was going to a Nursing Home last year and no one was able to take care of her. I advocated my Grandmother and told my parents that that would be unacceptable bc I knew why. She’s with us and we all take care of her. I rather she be here with us than these for profit facilities.
Hi Kevin martinez". You must have Graduated with GPN by now. or are you going for your LPN or RN . Sure many here would be in full interest to hear from you ?
As a CNA of 10 years who is now in nursing school...thank you for this segment. Thank you so much.
Godspeed to you. I've been a CNA for 15+ years, and recently was witness to a coworker get her nursing license. I know it's not easy, and often thankless, but it means a lot to the people you're caring for, and their loved ones. (even if sometimes it *really* doesn't feel like it.)
Thank you for choosing nursing
Thank you for your service
Here here! OT staff in SNF here. I agree lady. My sister sent it to me and I sent it to everyone I know
I'm an engineer now because the 24 hour nursing home clinicals I had to do in nursing school turned me off so much that I quit school.
Worked as a nursing assistant for almost a year at barely above minimum wage, and it was the hardest job I've ever had in my life, both physically and emotionally. Both they and the people they care for deserve much better.
Virginia, CNA work is already so hard, and it's inhumane under the current system. Staff and patients both deserve better.
+ Pennsylvanians: Tell Acting Health Secretary Beam we need better staffing in nursing homes!
PA has the nation's 3rd highest COVID nursing home death rate. We've lost over 12,000 nursing home residents to COVID-19. PA has not updated its nursing home regulations in nearly 30 years.
Email Sec. Beam today with this form! And follow Nurses of PA on social media!
+ Non-Pennsylvanians: For safe staffing campaigns in your state, look up your state/local nurses' association and/or National Nurses United.
As a kid, my grandparents looked after me and I enjoyed doing meals on wheels with my Nan. A lot of the elderly liked to tell stories and I had mutism, so I enjoyed listening.
In my teens I was interested in studying nursing and working in nursing homes. Then I saw the pay and conditions and realized society doesn't care about us when we grow old. I opted to work in logistics instead and I get paid well and society cares about how goods get to them.
If nursing homes treated staff and residents decently, I'd be interested in going back for that nursing degree. Until then, it's already a somewhat sad field and it's too much when you include how they treat staff and residents. So maybe that will never happen.
@@runningfromabear8354 for me, it's about people. You yourself value your wealth a bit more than the care of others. I switched careers a few years ago. It takes effort - apparently no one is willing to put that in.
When your country has such resistance towards nationalising healthcare, advocating for unions and even basic support for a minimum wage, you simply have no options for a rising tide to raise your ships. You have no ability to lobby for a raise in wage, better support for your own health (whether that comes from regulating and providing more flexibility for work hours, providing counselling and access to therapy, or increasing amounts of leave), or raising the standards of the equipment and facilities you have to work with. The end result is a system that only looks after those who can afford it (i.e. those who can live in the 2Chainz one with Versace plates) or are lucky, and screws everyone else. This is the thing that is most broken about America and, sad to say, no one who is president will ever be able to fix it. The businesses that have thrived on this system will never let it happen.
Been a CNA for over 15 years. It can be hard but also rewarding. I remember being worked to the bone for years as I proved myself. Until I became so well enough established locally by reputation as an excellent caregiver that I could pick own my schedule, etc. Now I look forward to going to work, (I'm there now...I have lots of time to myself lol), because I work nights and I am night owl and main task is to stay up at night and help client to and front the bathroom twice a night. The rest of the 12 hours are mine as long as I'm ready in case she buzzes for me which she hardly ever does. We get along very well and are constantly cracking each other up over some such silliness or other between nightly bathroom visits. About once every few weeks I'll get someone calling asking me to come work in their facility /home, etc. I politely decline for now. I'm happy as a one-one caregiver and wouldn't return to the stress of multiple client care if...well...if you paid me to. Lol.
Calling it now: John is going to buy that wolf plate by next week.
It's earlier than that.
If you saw the full episode, he already has it 😉
I think they already bought it and know it will arrive soon. The canal was shut down, give it a little time....lol surely there isnt a stash of those in an Amazon warehouse here...but I wouldnt be surprised. People are stupid.
He'll bring it from home.
You know he already owns it
My step dad died of cancer, just a month and a half ago. I'm very thankful to be in Canada. Yes, we did end up needing to do much of his care, ourselves, but we had carers coming to our home 6 days per week, we had nurses and palliative care coming to teach us how to do everything needed (change his lines, inject his meds, keep him on oxygen, etc etc etc). We even had "relief" people, who would come to supervise him, if we had to go out.
He - thankfully - did not last in that state for long. My mom was too stressed and sleep deprived to keep up with waking up every two to four hours to keep him medicated and comfortable. And he would have never wanted my brother or I to be doing the more "embarrassing" tasks for him. 😔
It's definitely not easy, even if you've been trained well and have plenty of help. Especially during the pandemic. 😣 But we felt a lot better, knowing we could call for advice at any time.
He was a really good man, and a better father than my bio dad ever was. He deserved so much better than how he died. But we did everything we could for him, and we had a lot of help along the way. We'll miss him forever, but we're glad he's not suffering anymore. 😥
It's chilling when you find out that getting old is on the list of things that you can't afford to do.
Wait till they start talking about retirement plans and insurance
Getting old, dying..it's all for profit.
Getting old is a choice.
Invest in your health, learn everything you can about nutrition and exercise, don’t waist money on non essentials
@@thagodwecreate5179 Getting old is inevitable.
Nurse here, left my first job in a nursing home after being assigned 40 patients, 26 of them in post acute level of care.
I just don't understand how that is actually legal, even after the video. I like get it intellectually but on an emotional level...
*Smdh*
overworking in its most extreme form. that's an impossible task. solidarity
We need a massive plan for this
That’s what happens with privatization.
@@tchalla7828 exactly. It's disgusting.
Having worked in multiple nursing homes this is all too true. I literally had a breakdown one day before work because I was so overworked, under valued, and physically couldn't give the care to my work that the residents deserved.
My wife works dietary in nursing/ALF places. She worked at one crappy place like that. She would come home complaining about how things were there. I told her goto the press and get a new job. She got a job at another ALF (this place IS 5* rated by me..I'd live there) she loves it there. They gave her $100 bonus for just going to work on time during a real bomb of a blizzard. Some places just have crappy management/owners but the best workers until they burn out for watching crappy management/owner work
Matthew Stephens I am so sorry you went through that. Did you quit that job? How are you doing now?
Thank you for your work. It's hard work for very little pay. I pray God rewards you greatly.
I work in the medical field in Europe and all the things you listed point out to a burn-out syndrome it happens often with people who work in care,if not treated properly it can evolve into a depression.
I feel you. I work dietary but am in constant contact with nursing staff and they are 100% overworked, underpaid and under valued.
On a good day there's 1 cna for every 10-15 residents. 1 med tech, LPN or RN for every 2 units(20-30 total).
I sat with an lpn on her break after a shift last week so she literally had a shoulder to cry on. These girls LOVE their residents and the work they do but god damn its gotta be tough when you're caring 24/7 but no ones caring for you.
When we found out that Mom had a terminal illness, I promised her that I'd do everything in my power to keep her home as long as possible. I must admit that it was the hardest thing I have ever been through in my life but I wouldn't change it for anything in this world. My Mom didn't have to endure needless tests and/or procedures that wouldn't have extended her life anyway. She took her last breath lying comfortably in her hospital bed, in the middle of her livingroom surrounded by her loved ones. She left this world on her own terms and with the most beautiful toothless smile I've ever seen. It was a peaceful transition and although it almost broke me physically and mentally, I was honored to be her caretaker as well as her baby girl.💔 😇💜
That's an amazing work you did there; I think you can be proud of that.
I think what enrages me most about nursing homes is that the unintentional neglect isn't happening because there isn't enough money, but because they are being run for profit, so people who have no clue about the hard work and suffering involved make cuts to up the profits, and their own career.
Those people, as far as I'm concerned, belong into prison.
I’m glad you had the means to care for your mother. This is the way it should be. Unfortunately with income inequality caring for a parent isn’t always an option for those who do not have means to house and care for them themselves.
As someone who helped take care of one of his grandmothers at home whilst in college and then later my mom, this was a hard episode to watch. The amount of work, stress, physical strain and absolute mental/emotional pain was immense. Did I hate my life during those times? Yup, would I do it all again? In a fucking heartbeat I would. Doctors gave us books and pamphlets but there was never any training involved, just lots of trail and error. It's not like any kind of training could prepare a grandson to hear their grandma cry in pain and tell them they wish they could just die to stop their everyday misery. Reliving that nightmare with mom during her last few months was just agonizing and I really wish we had some kind of better system dealing with long term care for our elderly. I know a lot of people write off old folks for whatever reason but things hit differently when that old person has the face of someone who you know thought the world of you since the moment you were born.
I felt all of this. Sorry about your grandmom and your mom. This country needs to do better for its' people.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I completely sympathize. The experience changed my perspective on life completely and where we will all be at the end of our lives. We CANNOT continue to ignore and neglect our elders!
I fear I’m facing this soon with my father. I understand
I know that pain so well. I took care of my dad from age 15 to 24. When my family did finely get some help the care giver we were assigned didn't believe in masks and was a trump supporter who ended up giving my whole family covid. Ultimately killing my dad. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and if he was still alive I would still be doing it. If given a chance I would do it all over again. I loved my dad so much and the pain stress and fear that I had taking care of him in exchange for getting to keep him alive was worth it to me... I miss him so much :(
I am going through what you've experienced and shared. Thank you for your truths. I took comfort in your words.
I love how the week i get a job at an assisted living home, John Oliver literally does a piece of long term care. Thanks John.
I hope it's a nice place, if not I hope you have nerves of steel, I have a mom who used to work at one and nephew who now works at a nursing home and I hear similar stories.
Unless you want your soul broken, find another job.
Are there aligators?
@@heyokexd2542 100% agree. I know its a huge burden but her future self will be so thankful that she didn't commit herself to years of suffering for the same pay as a Mcdonald's supervisor.
Be the change you want to see.
My mother used to work in long-term care and she really cared about the people she took care of. She said the worst parts were watching nurses do their best to take care of more people than they were physically able to, watching elderly people slowly lose their dignity in a system that didn't care about them, and having to tell people that they couldn't afford to live there anymore when there was literally their only option. She went from a lifelong conservative to a stanch universal healthcare advocate. She ended that job doing the work of two and a half people because of constant cost-cutting.
When we do surveys of providers or exit interviews for my state on support coordinators, which is what we call what your mom did, one of the main reasons they leave is the pay they make combined with the heartbreak they go through is too much and that's an aspect people don't understand. These type of front line service jobs have an incredible emotional aspect to them in which we ask people to endure an incredibly emotional job while often paying them minimum wage when they can go get another job, paid the same if not more without the emotional weight then wonder why we can't retain people.
@@jamesmarhen Another one of my biggest issues is the employee turnover!
I HATE it for the residents! They're in such a vulnerable position to begin with and then on top of that they have different faces tending to their most intimate needs day in and day out!!!
I worked at the same place for 3 years and my long term residents became like family. I actually looked forward to going to work most days and it always felt so good to see the relief on residents' faces when they knew I was there.
@@petek7951 The way they snatch every last penny from the elderly for care they are not even receiving is criminal.
@@petek7951 LTC insurance is also written with a LOT of rules and can be very onerous to use. I work in social services, had a lady with LTC insurance that she applied for when she moved into ALF. Two years on, they have still to contribute any financial assistance.
I'm a CNA who has gotten out of the field after getting to a point where I knew I was being forced to put my residents in danger. I worked 6p-6a, so from dinner to when its legally acceptable to start getting people up. I was staffed 39:1 from 10p-6, but I had accepted the assignment for 6-6, being told I'd have someone else. They just wouldn't tell me that was the nurse who was also 39:1 for just her job. That was the same night I lost one of my favorite people. He was a resident at that LTCF for 16 years. He was a biochemist in the army in his youth. He spent years building a memory garden for all of his friends he lost during his stay. Two weeks before he passed, he told me how the pandemic just fucked his life. He had a schedule that kept him active and getting the social interaction he went there for, that all stopped at the blink of an eye. And even at that point, knowing he was on his deathbed, his kids couldn't see him because he wasn't on Hospice yet. His hospice would have started the next morning.
Even worse yet, he passed at 2am. His body was still there at 6 am because my nurse was so overworked I couldn't wake her up. That was the moment in healthcare that forced me to see that my safety and wellbeing is more important than a paycheck. Facilities care about the money. Not the residents. Not the staff. Staff care about residents. That's why 70% of CNAs will used their own hard earned money to buy their residents foods they can't get in nursing homes, clothes to replace their holey ones, new shoes, entertainment items (games, puzzles, coloring books, crocheting or knitting stuff, scrapbooking), all the way down to wet wipes. Heck, at the same place, I bought a resident really colorful hair dye because she loved my hair so much. We had 7 60-70 year olds running around with pink, purple, and/or blue hair🤣
The concept of mini-retirement changed my life. I'm no longer waiting for some retirement paradise when I'm 65. It helps to know how to fund the lifestyle. You know, making money while you sip that piña colada by the beach does help. I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise.
Yeah, people miss that part. You don't jet out to Puerto Rico with your life savings. Proper investing and a good business acumen are big pluses. Invest in the stock market, real estate, build businesses. That's just it.
Safe to say not everybody has the skill to pursue investing. But it's always easy to follow the directions of someone who knows how to i.e an asset manager. You could earn anywhere between 10--40k with the right ones. Online businesses are a good bet too.
I might want to try out a manager this year, but the information on the internet is overwhelming. I know it's not appropriate, but you could mention a good one(s)?
Her name is Sonya Lee Mitchell. Hope that helps
Thanks for this, but I already have a 401(k). You think I'm still eligible to use a financial advisor?
I'm stuck between being happy that John uploaded and feeling dread that John *uploaded*
More depressing is that we spend more on the military than the next 10 countries combined, but can't afford our elderly care. There's a detailed analysis on how the military industrial complex controls America on my channel.
*Before Covid*
“Welcome to Last Week Tonight! Let’s get silly!”
*During Covid*
“Our country has so much depressingly fucked up shit that it’ll make you feel dreadful...”
th-cam.com/video/7gwFo2Qy2d8/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/7gwFo2Qy2d8/w-d-xo.html
it's perfect if you're not American
happy that he uploaded and not much to dread because he isn't talking about problems related to me
I am a nurse in a long term care nursing home. I have very few residents we care for who could be cared for at home. One the the biggest complications is the round the clock needs of most of our residents. We monitor for incontinence, assist with bed mobility (to prevent bed sores), monitor for wandering and more. I agree the long term care industry needs changes but I would say the biggest issues are for profit business models, staffing ratios, and low medicaid reimbursement for care especially dementia. You should spend more time on the problems in dementia care because on top of being the most at risk there care is very poorly reimbursed because a lot of there needs are not reimbursable. Because dementia care has such poor reimbursement it’s often a neglected area in a home, first place to pull staff for shortages, last place to be cleaned, first place to cancel activities and last place for upgrades and remodeling.
Thank you for what you do.
I work in an nursing home and the staffing issues are ridiculous! We have a good amount of residents who could get by with at home care but the other 2/3rds genuinely need round the clock expert care. I actually agree with a lot of what John says in this video but people will still need nursing homes as long as Alzheimer’s dementia exist. What nursing homes need is better staffing because the fact that people need to be in nursing homes for extra round the clock care but a facility will still assign two people to twenty residents is mind boggling! The staff lost during the pandemic has already narrowed down staff enough but overworked and frozen CNA’s aren’t very eager to stick around let me tell you! And the more reliable staff end up picking up and being frozen till they’re pulling shifts that can last two or three days! If I have to hear “But we don’t need THAT many people for one floor!” one more time I’m going to ask why there are two staff assigned to 15 residents when four of those residents need at least two staff just to get out of bed!
My mom used to take care of her mother who was suffering from dementia after grandpa died. She used to come every morning during the week after her morning bus routes and get grandma up and ready and feed her, she then go back home and prepare dinner for me and my brothers. She was a strong and dedicated woman to her family. Occasionally I'd accompany her and assisted in caring for grandma, and I can definitely say that it was all a labor of love that I'd rather have done than to send my grandma to a nursing home. As a hispanic family, we would rather keep our elders with us as much as possible and know not to trust strangers with them for good reasons made abundantly clear in this video. Grandma has went to two nursing cares before she died, and one of them was incredibly terrible. Don't worry, she died in her home in peace, back to where she was born, in Mexico, in her sleep, during her final visit to her old place. RIP grandma, glad that we never abandoned you
Seems like every other culture in the world cares more about their elderly than America lol
As an immigrant I can relate. That’s kinD of the norm. Taking care of your elder family members at home. No offense but dumping your parents and grandparents in these horrible places is more of an American thing.
I really appreciate this, but as someone who comes from a partially Hispanic family (my father is Puerto Rican and my mother's father was Mexican) who has a mother in an American elderly home myself and dating someone who has his mother being taken care of at her home by a nurse full time (she is in Italy, so the system is different but still bad outside the USA), I can say there are no easy outcomes to this. I am personally very glad not to be taking care of my mother because it would have ruined my life. It isn't about "abandoning" anyone. My life needs to be lived - my mother went into a nursing home when I was 23 or 24 (I turn 32 later this year), and my partner's brother has been helping take care of their mother since her accident in 2003, and even with someone helping full time at home it isn't enough, and his brother often complains about his life being stolen too, and he is much older. This is a shitty situation for everyone involved, so don't look at this so black and white please.
My mother is a RN and started off as a CNA when she was younger. She doesn’t trust homes at all. My grandfather on my dad’s side was sent to a home (due to his illness being so specific that it was required) and he wasn’t treated well at all. Ever since then, my mother made sure to never send any of my grandmothers to a home. We made sure for her mother that she would never go either. I moved in with her when she was 92 because the college I was going to was near. I could take her out for food, keep an eye on her, and help her for any specific needs. It gave her a sense of independence as well. My mother would come down each week to check on her too and do the dirty work (she works two jobs, hard to balance time). Plus my grandma was able to get her favorite food which was KFC each week because I could drive there, so she was happy. As she got worse, my mom and sister came down more until we moved her in with my mother. Even then she was never going to send her to a home. But, with so much work on my mom and dads plate, they found a CNA that was able to come in a couple times a week to keep an eye on her while my parents were working. The first week was great, the CNA was sweet and my grandmother liked her. Sadly, my grandmother got COVID from her during the first week because one of the CNA’s coworkers she helped the day before. She pasted two months later in December of 2020. The thing is, if we left her in a home and this happened to her, she wouldn’t have been with us or able to live in such a nice space or her home for so long. She had her own bathroom, bedroom, and living area that was right next to the kitchen at my mothers. She would’ve never had anything that nice in the nursing homes she could afford. Even though the CNA’s company fucked us, I’m just glad we were with her till her last breath. She was in hospice at my mothers when she passed and we were all with her. If she was in a home and this happened, she may have died alone. Love you grandma.
My dad passed away after being on the waiver waiting list for a year. We theorized the government does this so that those in the list will age out by dying. This segment validates that theory.
My uncle, in the state of Washington, was able to become a licenced care giver and get paid while taking care of my grandmother. After she passed, he went into that as a career for awhile. I have nothing but respect for the people who do that work.
It's unfortunate familiy's don't support their loved ones more. I've had pt family call me to get their mom a glass of water, pulling me away from someone who was having a stroke to do so. Some balance would be nice.
I've been a CNA for 10 years and this is the most truth I have seen in reporting on SNF and ALF. I moved to independent provider because I couldn't stand the neglect that happened in the SNF I worked in.
Keep on them John!
The same me! Moved in Arizona to work in private homes! Those nursing facilities sucks!
Yup, same here. Private homes all the way at this point.
@@sleepingdogpro The reason a lot of this occurs is because the law prohibits nurses from doing things that make sense. For example, nurses should be allowed to put bars on beds when there is a significant risk or an ongoing pattern (at the very least) of a specific patient falling out of bed: eventually, the person WILL break a hip! They should be acting with good hearts, doing what they know is right. I don't think they should use NEGATIVE discression (harming people, punishing people, scolding people, etc.), but they SHOULD BE USING POSITIVE DISCRESSION and should be allowed to do that, especially if the family approves!!!
I'm a licensed practical nurse in Belgium. Sending love to all caregivers and care receivers!
As someone who has family members who work in nursing homes and assisted living facilities since I've been alive, I appreciate this subject being covered. The things I hear about these places are brutal.
Two of my grandparents were essentially on Hospice in one way or another and died at home in relative comfort, though were both suffering. My grandfather on the other side was put in an assisted living home when he got major Dementia, his care seemed okay but the staff was incompetent about something major: my mother looked at his charts and found that his nutrient levels were severely deficient, she cracked down on them and he regained his faculties for several months.
His wife (the linchpin of our entire clan, the perfect grandma) was still physically active and sharp as a tack and- I do not say this morbidly or sarcastically- it is fortunate that she died instantly in a car crash (she was totally competent to drive but lived on a blind hill, I feel bad for the teenager that hit her at about 60mph). Better to go in an instant than to feel your mind and body slipping into oblivion over months or years, quality of life over quantity of life always.
The CNA are overworked and understaffed and under paid. It's abusive to the staff and patients. Give your family members a hug (when we can again) and appreciate the work they do.
Just had a visit with my Grandma yesterday, who is likely going to need to move in with my mom due to her age. My stomach was churning as I watched this, imagining how if my mom and her weren't close that she could've wound up in a horrible place like in this video. My heart aches for all the seniors who have to live through this.
I’m not saying your wrong. But do consider that some people it’s not a matter of if they are close or not. My dad has cancer and is in his 50s so he isn’t in any condition to care for my grandma (his mom) who has severe Parkinson’s and dementia. But him and his mother have always been close. She helped raise me bc she lived down the street. She taught me so much about life and she even helped me get a head start in school. We just don’t have the resources or ability to care for her like one these homes. We try to be aware of her care and we have raised hell over so many things that the staff must hate us. But ultimately we have seen them begin to treat her and other residents with more respect.
I’m just giving you a perspective…honestly I wish I could take care of my grandma, but I’m tryna put myself through college bc that’s what she’s always told me to do. I hope everything works out with your grandma and enjoy every moment with her :)
Here for John’s weekly reminder that we suck at generally everything. It’s cool we need to hear it.
More depressing is that we spend more on the military than the next 10 countries combined, but can't afford our elderly care. There's a detailed analysis on how the military industrial complex controls America on my channel.
Humans are deplorable creatures that deserve a plague or three NOW and then.
*Before Covid*
“Welcome to Last Week Tonight! Let’s get silly!”
*During Covid*
“Our country has so much depressingly fucked up shit that it’ll make you feel dreadful...”
th-cam.com/video/7gwFo2Qy2d8/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/7gwFo2Qy2d8/w-d-xo.html
As someone who works in Adult Protective Services, it’s disgusting how little protection society provides the most vulnerable in our community. When things are “for profit” only the rich win.
It's odd that the rich include a 30 year old woman who sounds like a 12 year old Kardashian.
The myth that "the private sector can do it better" needs to be squashed.
We pay taxes where does it go
Im not a citizen that pays medicare taxes that i wont be able to get
@@11_jesusisking That's exactly what you are. Unless you're part of the 1% (or their cronies,) that's what we all are.
I've been a CNA for 10 years and barely make 25k a year.. and everything mentioned in this segment is so fucking true
With all the negative news Amazon is getting, truth is even Amazon pays its workers MORE and works them LESS than SNFs and ALFs.
I quit being a CNA and started working retail. I work way less hours, have barely a fraction of the stress, and I end up making more at the end of the month.
When you put it that way, it shows how UNBELIEVABLY fucked up our system is. Retail and food service sucks due to entitled assholes coming through constantly and having to deal with a generally unappreciative audience (probably a better word there but first that came to mind). Nursing homes based on what I’ve been told by a friend and seeing here, are a different level of soul crushing. All of this shouldn’t even be surprising considering how America cares about its veterans.
Now I’m curious why some people out here spending 60K-100K a year to put someone in a home when you can pay like two CNAs that money directly to get individually directed care that still pays them better.
Medicaid should be covering THAT.
@@DrGandW you are right, but you also have to pay for food, accomodations and meds which will increase the price.
I was forced to take care of my father, dying of cancer, alone, on benefits. While my wealthy family mocked me for not “doing the right thing” and throwing him in a home... when I’d never be able to see him again because of Covid
God bless you. You did the right thing. And that will stay with you. And haunt them.
KM Hemmans The TH-camr
They'll get theirs, evil has a way of coming around.
You are rich in the soul.
Well, if that's not your relatives trying to talk away their own guilty conscience ...
Sadly, I've heard that story before: one gets stuck with taking care of a relative, and the others quickly pull the "hey, it's your own fault, you could have stuck him/ her into a home".
I know that taking care of your father was a huge task; I hope very much that you have the opportunity to recover from it. And be proud of it!
When I heard that the facilities are run for profit, I was like “yeah, here we go again, it’s one of those stories.”
Yea we got lucky with my one grandmother her care facility was part of local hospital one or rare rare few good nursing facilities tho they only take patients from there rehab and then determine if they need long term after rehab
Give someone money and he'll buy some stuff. Give someone TONS of money and they'll use it to bend society into multiplying said money.
Very mixed feelings about capitalism. On one hand it means I get to live in relative wealth (at least as long as I have a job). On the other hand it means the people with the most money and fingers in pies will always win, no matter how fucked up the things they're doing are.
@Luís Andrade when its for essentiel care: most definetly!!!
"For profit" and "care" are mutually exclusive.
@Luís Andrade Come back when you have an argument that isn't on a child's level.
The quality of reporting on this show is just amazing. Nobody addresses important issues like this
The reason a lot of this occurs is because the law prohibits nurses from doing things that make sense. For example, nurses should be allowed to put bars on beds when there is a significant risk or an ongoing pattern (at the very least) of a specific patient falling out of bed: eventually, the person WILL break a hip! They should be acting with good hearts, doing what they know is right. I don't think they should use NEGATIVE discression (harming people, punishing people, scolding people, etc.), but they SHOULD BE USING POSITIVE DISCRESSION and should be allowed to do that, especially if the family approves!!!
He also presents solutions and positive things citizen's can do to get involved with what he talks about, opposed to the hateful narrative that most use to trick citizen's into hating eachother at the behest of profits
the elders are our future selves.That should be motivation for folks to fix this shit before it’s their turn
wealth distances folks, sometimes morally, so that we now have facilities where a few can profit off of this shit daily and not even have to see who they're harming and how, though they might already not care enough about others' lives, even if they were brought into facilities to see the shit they profited from
i agree that it should be motivation for them to fix things, we just also have to deal with folks who focus on their motivation for profit while avoiding any lasting penalties
@@foobarmaximus3506 Interesting view, what do you mean because you're poor? Does this suggest being wealthy is the way to secure a basic retirement in your view if so how wealthy is that? Do you possess the wealth you imagine will gain you the retirement you expect when you can't no longer be productive? And what gives you the confidence in the amount of money or the revenue streams you manage to acquire will be respected by the caretakers of you while their sole interest in you will be to gain wealth in order secure their own salvation in your view? I'm not interested in answers as your political view suggests, I'm interested in knowing have you for your self thought this through and figured it out. cus, I would love to be confident in retirement as you are.
The rich control everything, there will never be change. The rich don't have to worry about places like these.
Cheap stupid people cut the branches they are sitting ! The same like throwing plastics everywhere trashing the planet and not care!
People in this country are terrified of aging and death. That is why we got to this point. It's no different from the practice of sending disabled children to institutions from birth.
I’m an RN in a nursing home. This hits 💯. It’s just a completely broken system. Thanks for covering it. Hopefully with awareness can come change.
It’s almost like doing everything “For Profit” like schools, universities, long-term care, etc. isn’t a good idea.
Whoa slow down comrade LOL
But yeah :/
Welcome to America, land of the free (unless you're poor).
Late stage capitalism BABY
America is addicted to capitalism
Human trafficking much???
Ah, my weekly "This country is broken, heres another example backing up that fact" with John Oliver
Gilded 3rd world country, baby.
examples of things to do something about*. there's a whole list of shit to fix and it's laid out nicely by John Oliver
@@hamiltoneu I prefer to call it “the worlds most advanced 3rd world country” or “a 3rd world country with a Gucci-belt”
Also, “Here are some basic reforms that could really help alleviate these problems, but our government is too corrupt to even get the basics right.”
So vote for joe biden.... nothing will change because of him....
This episode really hits home. I was a caregiver for my grandmother in her 90s for the last two years until she passed away this March. I was paid by a relative but I was definitely underpaid. I was honored to do it and I'm glad she was never in a nursing home but it was definitely difficult.
You showed true Grace.
KM Hemmans The TH-camr
I did it the same for my Mom. I know exactly what you mean.
@@jehjey7626 Well done ma'am
KM Hemmans The TH-camr
That's good karma. Wish you the best ...
I upended my life, took a leave of absence from work, and moved across the country to take care of my mom. The experience depleted me physically, emotionally, and spiritually (mostly due to my siblings, who did everything they could to stonewall me.) I have a signed letter from her that she would reimburse me for my expenses during the time I was off work. (I was still paying a mortgage, had to pick up my health insurance, etc.) It came to about $36,000, which could easily be paid by her estate, but my siblings are refusing to pay me. (She's since passed so can't weigh in.) Their ingratitude just floors me.
I love the fact that these nurses are honest enough to report this situation.
What did I learn today?
-I don’t think I want my parents in a home.
-There are mice that don’t want to dress Cinderella
-I need the wolf plate for “investigative purposes”
"Investigative". 🧐
Rubylane dot com has this plate
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Thank god my family banded together to take care of my grandma in her last two years. She was never moved out of her home. We all were in rotation and looked after her.
And you're thanking "god" for this? Seems that you and your family should get the credit.
I took care of mu mother with no help from the rest of the family. Sadly, as I've no kids, I expect to die alone because no one will be around to call 911.
@@ArchieStiglitz most families don't. They either bundle off their elderly to a home of uproot them and fit them into their own lifestyle. Both of them are hard for elderly to do. My grandma didn't want to leave her home and last 2 yrs of her life were hard for her. Thank god as in everyone agreed with no drama to live with her in shifts..
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You presented in a much funnier way than my friend who used to be a CNA. She quit after her work related injury that they refused accommodate for. She would also occasionally have a mental health crisis and come to my home for days and refuse to answer her phone. It's a never ending nightmare for CNAs and patients.
Ya sometimes I feel as a CNAs that it's us and the residents vs the horrible system and management. I've seen some shit in my line of work and we just don't get paid or supported enough to deal with it.
That's always the worst part about companies understaffing their businesses. It makes it awful for the people being taken care of by the employees, but also makes it miserable for the employees themselves.
Not only because they are given an impossible task, to do the work of 5 people yet also do it perfectly, but they also deal with all sorts of guilt about quitting or taking time off. People are already spread super thin, and you know all your coworkers, and you also know that quitting, or even just taking a sick day, will make their lives even more miserable.
It took me a while after I quit a job to realize that I had no reason to feel guilty when the manager there kept getting upset because "nobody could take my shift" when I needed to go to the doctor, or when I tried to take a vacation with my family, but got pressured out of it. I gave him at least 2 weeks, usually a month's notice, I tried giving him like 3 months notice for the vacation, and it was a part time job. He usually planned schedules out only about a week in advance. It was just him being cheap and not wanting to have any extra people.
None of us could exceed 30 hours a week, otherwise AZ law would kick in and give us benefits like lunch breaks. He scheduled us all for 29.5 hours usually, meaning nobody could cover anybody's shift without getting in trouble. I had all this guilt about "leaving my coworkers shorthanded," but I finally realized that it's entirely the fault of the manager. Employees need days off, and if you can't function without 100% of your employees there 100% of the time, you need more employees.
Pretty much why I stopped being a CNA. Between the companies I worked for never accommodating or even acknowledging my injuries or medical issues I ended up getting, patient's families wanting the best care money can by but only willing to pinch out a penny, the work shifts were fucking ridiculous, and no matter how hard you worked, the patients never got the adequate care that they truly needed
@@hambone4984 sadly my friend worked for private ones too and it was pretty bad even though they paid ridiculous amounts of money. Don't get me wrong she said many of the families suck, but it didn't seem to matter how much they paid the companies still suck unless you are a billionaire.
I cared for my brother when he was under going treatment for cancer. Flushing his pic line and administering inter-venious antibiotics were only a few things that i did for him. He was transferred to an end of life facility when it was known he was dying. I couldn't care for him at that point, it was too hard. Now I'm caring for my 81 year old mother who has had w stroke over a year ago. I'm lucky that all the stroke effected was some strength in her right side and her speaking ability. I am able to care for her at home for now. I do this out of love but it is taking a toll on me emotionally.
I am an unpaid family caregiver... it is incredibly difficult, stressful and it has left me suicidal. Change needs to happen
I am too. The most support I have is an email newsletter from my local Alzheimer's Association. We need help.
I get it. Hold on. Nothing is forever. Don't condemn your self for wanting it to be over. Give it your best, though your charge may or may not appreciate it, I think some Great Loving Presence does.
@@alexandradionisi7256 : I agree 100%. I raised money and even was an unpaid lobbyist for my local Alz Association chapter, but I actually never got a lick of help with my own spouse with the disease. If you’re not dirt poor, there’s no help available. And it will bankrupt you, even with decent income, once you have to place the person somewhere or get around-the-clock in-home care. The idea that a family member (usually a woman) can continue to take care of someone all alone or with minimal help, while working at least one job to pay bills, is insane, and we often end up terribly sick ourselves. My husband’s care, medications, and toiletries currently cost over $5,000/month, and that’s actually cheap. Friends and family start to disappear, respite caregivers steal, group and nursing homes (if you can afford them) are usually terrible. It’s a no-win situation.
Same here. My advice is to find some way to give yourself a short vacation and recharge. Any way that doesn’t result in their neglect. Just keep thinking and reaching out until you find a way to do it. That is all that has kept me sane and able to keep going. Caregiver burnout is very real and is not your fault at all. And just know that this random Internet stranger is very proud of you. You’re doing a great thing.
Solidarity. I'm there too.
My grandmother worked as a CNA for 37 years in a long-term healthcare facility. She was a champion of unions and patience and this story speaks to me so clearly. I remember my grandmother said she did not ever want to go to a facility. Nor did she
Honestly unless you shell out for a nice, well-staffed facility, the ALF or nursing home is really what will kill you. Cheap nursing homes are actually hell on earth. The patients literally rot while alive as neglect worsens whatever condition they have. If that's not enough, you also go insane watching and hearing the screams of the painful death around you while the world doesn't seem to give a shit and figuratively throws perfume at it.
"For profit" and "care" are basically the opposite things.
Unfortunately, I believe your comment to be accurate.
Same as health care. For profit means just that - they're not in it to provide care, it's FOR the PROFIT.
They arent opposite things when people know what they are buying. The problem is that we ignore the problems and that allows the companies to get away with a lot.
Now, having said that, profit certainly does not *promote* care. It is, at it's very best, not harmful. I believe that our elderly require better than that.
@klye sam what percentage of people can afford that though? Everyone gets old, very *very* few can afford luxury care.
@klye sam Haha, if you wanted to provide *care* you would make facilities that are for people who *need* care.
If you want to make money you provide *bad value luxury alternatives* for people who can afford it and have no other choice because the alternatives are *terrible*
If you can't compete with the luxury brands because you don't have the capital then you settle for lower and lower social classes by offering alternatives that are progressively worse depending on what the customer can pay, and you work on a throw-them-out-as-richer-customers-comes-in basis. Hopefully one day you can also make it to a luxury health facility that can charge a 50% premium on everything.
Reading these comments is terrifying but so educational. I wonder what the solution is if there isn't a huge change in this industry. Our elders are crucial to our society and they deserve the best. It just seems like the moment you're not a perfectly healthy young worker you're deemed expendable by society. It's heartbreaking and humbling as someone who wants to grow old. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories here.
How are they crucial?
In Germany there recently was a survey that came to the conclusion that nearly a third of all workers in the nursing industry plan on quitting their job for ever after the pandemic is over. We have the same problems here btw: ridiculously bad wages, insane amount of hours, and absolutely no societal recognition
The CDU's neoliberalism is almost as toxic as Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom.
Sadly, many people end up in one for precisely that reason. Nobody in the family cared.
Same here in The Netherlands. Hard work for a pitiful wage.
Your talking exclusively from your perspective as a employee (which gives me a hint to your level of compassion), but what about the elderly beneficiaries? At least you have workers from eastern-Europe who do the job and care for your parents and grandparents! But who takes care of their old parents and grandparents? And what is the salary and working hours for those fiew care-givers that do work in these eastern-Europe countries!
It's a huge problem of society in general, that will only get worse! And the whole approach might have to be changed...
@@purpleldv966 so, I'm talking from my perspective as a former Medicare insurance customer service rep as well as a person who has had many relatives in these facilities. What OP is saying has nothing to do with any compassion levels. Working at these places is HELL - and that's just what it was like *before* the pandemic. Low pay, guelling hours, violent and pervy residents. Middle and upper management is often kind of skeevy. Now the pandemic has cranked that up to 11. Patients are dying. Employees are dying. And there isn't enough room to properly quarenteen people. And the nurses that take care of these COVID patients can't see their family for fear of infecting them. This is extra bad since many of them have to take care of aging parents or small children.
If you want people to do a job - no matter what the job is - you shoukd make sure their basic needs are met.
"Put the phone down and look at me."
Me watching on my Phone: *head implodes*
Same
Just set it down so you can still see the screen
I did that too... only to have John tell me he wants to fuck a dinner plane.
hate8930 To be fair that is one sexy plate.
@@dylanhaugen3739 it terms of facial expression, yea, but bestiality isn't my kink
i turned 30 last Sunday and i lost both my parents last year 6 months apart. my dad died at 71 and my mom at 67. this video is why i knew 10 years ago, seeing their health decline rapidly, that i needed to stay at home with them. it was ruff. but especially in comparison to this video - being there for all the errands the last 5 years, almost all the cooking, and picking up my dad when he fell makes me feel like i did everything i could for them 💚💛❤️
Im so sorry that you lost both parents and so close apart. You showed them so much love. It was incredibly hard but you did it. They raised a wonderful human 🍀
You will never feel bad for giving your time vs missing those important moments you would have missed if you had done something else.
I sorry for you loss
Rip
What you did for them is so nice. While not everyone has the time and expertise to do it, what you did is ideal.
Honestly, when old people start dying the thing they want most is to see you anyway. You did the right thing.
@@monsieurdorgat6864 thank you
I just feel the world is a sad place and if some kind words will make this man or women’s day Better I will do what I can
You tackle the big and difficult issues, please keep using your platform to highlight these woeful American experiences.
Glad you're here, thank you, John!
As a Nurse who works in LTC, do more!!! You haven't even barely scratched the surface. I can't even express how bad things are and that's without even getting into COVID crap.
The LTCF I worked at broke me just before covid hit. I shudder to think how bad it got with the pandemic.
I agree. But as a Registered Nurse who worked in LTC for years, it isn't the staff causing the problems. My staff was extremely dedicated to their work, and genuinely loved our patients. The Admin, though, was a different ballgame. We had to beg to get basic supplies, like Kleenex and Depends, and worked short staffed all the time because they refused to raise pay to compete with hospitals. Don't forget, also, that LTCs and ALFs aren't prisons. If a person wants to go out, even in the middle of the night, they have a right to go, even if it isn't the best thing for them medically. We could try to talk them out of it, we could call their family to talk to them, but if they wanted to go, we couldn't stop them. That would be kidnapping and false imprisonment.
The worst thing nursing home administrators do is purposely understaff EXCEPT when the inspectors come to check staff levels, which they always seem to know is coming, so THEN they have literally every single worker working. For that single time period. Then right back to understaffing. And somehow this counts as “complying with regulations.”
Wait, the inspectors don't check the schedules and talk to workers?
As a CNA I can confirm in my case that this is literally true. Administrators know full well that you don't have much of a choice but to take on extra labor because we are dealing with actual living people that themselves don't have much of a choice either. If you complain you get hit with "You're a nurse you signed up for this and you should want to do this because its your duty" its abusive nonsense
@@rolfs2165 they only see who’s scheduled that day at my work. Nobody really keeps track of who worked in my department except for my supervisor unless they are physically in the building. Even then the directors of the home are encouraging understaffing as a way to cut down on the budget. My supervisor is trying to schedule more people but her job is threatened when she tries
@@Foreverskull0 my dude, CNA jobs are a dime a dozen. There are quiet a few decent places. You need a new job
That's why you don't tell facilities when you're coming for an inspection.
I work in a SNF and this is not at all an exaggeration. I want to play this video on a giant speaker literally everywhere I go!!!!!
P lpl MB go
I worked as a CNA in a nursing home that covered everything from rehab to end of life care, and I can attest to everything in this video being true. It was heartbreaking.
Our grandfather was in a place that was $4k/mo and they neglected him and provided subpar care until he had a fatal accident. Feels like you can't trust anyone but yourself. We aren't even in our 40s yet and we're already planning on how we'll manage taking care of my Mother In Law so she can live the end of her life with care and dignity.
"What we need is reform on a national level"
Should just be the title of the show.
Ms. Tops is right.
PREACH ✊️❤️✊️
"Things We Refuse to Do Because We Refuse to Tax The Rich/Cut The Pentagon's Snacks" could be another.
That should be our national motto.
If the United States would be a company, at this point, it might be more reasonable to file for bankrupcy, sell all its assets, and rebuild something new. I don´t think that rotten corpse can be reformed.
My grandmother died last year from being neglected in a facility after just a week of her being there and us paying around triple for someone of her needs. Thank you for bringing light to this subject.
If it's any consolation. Nothing has changed
I’m a nurse... I have this problem constantly. Had 34 patients yesterday. My aides get little compensation for their work they usually have 20 patients... Literally can’t even afford my own family’s heathcare.
God bless you
Was a CNA for 7 years and I just can’t anymore. It’s insane in LTC especially.
I was a CNA too for many years. Seeing what nurses went through made me decide to change careers. I decided not to become a nurse and I’m happy I made that decision. You sound like a good nurse who has empathy towards your patients and aides.💕
@@Jesuisderetour87 what did you end up doing if i may ask
Understaffing is a problem in every business. Employees are doing the work of two or three people while taking home the pay of just one person.
John thank you for educating the public about these important subjects.
The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. I'm just gonna let that speak for itself.
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💖🖤在整個人類歷史上，強者，富人和具有狡猾特質的人捕食部落，氏族，城鎮，城市和鄉村中的弱者，無`'守和貧窮成員。然而，人類的生存意願迫使那些被拒絕，被剝奪或摧毀的基本需求的人們找到了一種生活方式，並繼續將其DNA融入不斷發展的人類社會。.
說到食物，不要以為那些被拒絕的人只吃垃圾。相反，他們學會了在被忽視的肉類和蔬菜中尋找營養。他們學會了清潔，切塊，調味和慢燉慢燉的野菜和肉類，在食品市場上被忽略的部分家用蔬菜和肉類，並且學會了使用芳香的木煙（如山核桃，山核桃和豆科灌木 來調味g食物煮的時候 1618741614
Yes. As Hubert Humphrey said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.”
AMERICA IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD !
Who originally stated that?
Medical social worker here. I've done the nursing home circuit in my great state of Illinois and I vowed to never put anyone I care about in a facility. Seeing what I've seen, knowing what I know, my mother will never go anywhere near one.
holy sh*t, that's bad
So what do you do with them?
hope my 3 kids agree with this!
@@teacheschem At home care if you are able. In many cases it would be more humane to turn your gran into fertilizer than to "commit" them to a Long Term Care facility.
"-Put your phone down when im talking to you"
Me watching on my phone: *visable confusion*
So slick
Thought the same thing lol
I had a mental breakdown when that happened
I was munching away.
Put it down and looked at him.
Johns topics are so important and informative . He does a great show .
My grandmother is 96 years old w/advanced dementia. My mother and aunt have been taking care of her for 20 years. It's reaching the point where she probably needs LTC but we can't afford it. This video just confirms my worst fears.
“Put down that phone...”
**puts down phone**
“...and look at me!”
**looks at phone down on the floor confused**
@Zack Smith I strongly identify with both these comments
...decided my coffee pot makes a good phone stand. Needs solution for coffee getting cold...🤔..🤧..😷
Lol i was laughing when he aaid put the thumb down because i was definitely typing.
I took care of my Gran the last decade of her life; she died at home and lived to be 104. We were happy to do it as she was lovely and we adored her.
you can be proud of yourself! sounds like a great family
"What have you really learned from this video?" As someone outside the US with a close, older friend who is being forced by circumstance into assisted living, far too much and simultaneously nothing I didn't already fear. Thank you for raising the issue, John.
Everything that John has said in the video is obviously super important and needs to get addressed right away, but I thought I would share a positive experience with an ALF. After my grandma died, my grandpa was so depressed living in their house alone that we thought he was going to die within a few months, which is very common for elderly couples. We decided to move him into an ALF about 10 minutes from his house, and it was so wonderful for him. He had friends to eat every meal with, people to check on him daily, and I honestly believe it prolonged his life by almost five years. Living there gave my grandpa a lot of things he couldn't get from living alone or from my family with two parents working full time and two kids at school. Now, is every ALF like this? No. Should every ALF be a place where people can live out their final years with respect, community, and love? Yes.
Having worked at an ALF, I can confirm that care absolutely **can** be done right. And long-term care facilities that are implemented properly are **super** important for precisely the reasons you mention (among other factors, such as a person's apartment or house not always being built well for somebody who's experiencing increasingly limited mobility), as well as situations like the one that John Oliver outlined at the beginning: Family members often don't have the **thorough** training needed to properly take care of a loved one's needs - something that can pose a problem, even if the caregivers **are** properly compensated for their time. The horror stories absolutely need to be shared, punished (properly!!), and fixed, but I really, really wish the reporting was done without adding to the stigma of "long-term care facilities = bad and scary, period"/"the best solution is to avoid them whenever possible rather than fix them." The facilities that are bad and scary are that way because of shit-tastic regulation, inadequate help from insurance programs/companies, and unchecked greed coming from the top, not because the concept itself is inherently bad and scary. We have a habit in America of wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater whenever we see problems. Heck, we often seem to want to throw out the tub, too, because by the logic we tend to use, it's the (metaphorical) tub's fault that the bathwater ever got dirty in the first place and therefore we just shouldn't bathe ourselves ever again.
My mom actually got her university to sever its relationship with the nursing home she did her clinical training at, because she and her classmates all reported the abuse and negligence they saw every day. The stuff she described was so horrifying I nearly vomited, and I can’t believe it went on for so long.
The reason a lot of this occurs is because the law prohibits nurses from doing things that make sense. For example, nurses should be allowed to put bars on beds when there is a significant risk or an ongoing pattern (at the very least) of a specific patient falling out of bed: eventually, the person WILL break a hip! They should be acting with good hearts, doing what they know is right. I don't think they should use NEGATIVE discression (harming people, punishing people, scolding people, etc.), but they SHOULD BE USING POSITIVE DISCRESSION and should be allowed to do that, especially if the family approves!!!
Yeah, anyone who actually knows real Disabled people is shocked by nothing here.
I know a nonverbal dementia patient who was raped in her bed at a “nice” nursing home. The staff let the perp, an employee, literally walk out the door, never to return. They didn’t even take the victim to the hospital to receive care until 48 hours later, and only because her roommate said something to a visitor. The nursing home was sued and won.
@@jend8759 that is so incredibly vile I can’t even put it into words...
@@jend8759 hmm.... Okay. Any suggestions?
I’m an RN in Maine, understaffing is completely related to underpayment. Nursing homes pay nursing aids less than what they make at the local fast food restaurant.
CNA/CRMA in Maine.
Our job sucks.
RN Michigan. Absolutely agree. Ratios are often 25 to 1
I somewhat agree. You don't need much training in the Appalachia of the North.
My sister was essentially murdered in a so called nursing home in Maine...The so called CNAs get a few weeks of training...fed their patients like they are slopping the hogs, go out to smoke, and quickly do their chores so they can sit in the hall and chatter like school girls. My sister's crime? To be on Medicare with a stroke. "Oh you have plateaued in PT." ..after two weeks ( because medicare doesn't pay for more than that. ) After this they shoved her upstairs to an Alzhemier's ward, and left her alone, unattended, wouldn't allow her a two man assist to go to the bathroom etc. She died after being in this place after about 6 years...Imagine sitting in your own feces and urine because the fat CNAs are too lazy to get up, stop their chattering, and two man assist you to the toilet. Maine , it's medical malpractice, and its nursing homes are a criminal enterprize...It makes me want to vomit....OH yeh, I forgot , " The United States is the greatest country in the world !" NOT
Belive me when I say I get it, I work in these places, the workers and residents are utterly fucked seven ways to Sunday and there is little on yhe way of reprecussions for malpractice.
Not in the field, but know a thing or two about Maine and the way things work here... appalling. How bout that new Netflix movie? "I care alot" ..talk about, screaming at the TV ......
And just for the record, medicare and Disability benefits will cover the costs of putting young adults with physical handicaps and neurological disabilities in group homes for the disabled but they won't pay for programs for those people to work, be independent members of their community and get health care at their own homes, even though the former is more expensive than the latter in the long run.
My mother ended up in a nursing home for rehab after being in the hospital over a month with covid. I can say after her brief 3 week stay, I will never ever let her stay in a nursing home again!! She was assulted by a nurse, they continued to give her sugar despite her diabetes diagnosis and if she needed a nurse it took hourssss for someone to come. Thank you John for shedding light on this!!
Shout out to all my CNA’s/PCT’s we are underpaid and understaffed but try our best for the residents/patients
How many have refused the covid vaccine?
My mother died at one of these places. My brother and I cared for her in her home for five years as her Alzheimer’s progressed. She spent her last two and a half years there. All I can say is we took a hell of a lot better care of her then they did! If you can avoid them for your loved one then do it!
All these facilities are designed to extract as much money as possible while providing as close to nothing as possible. Especially for people who have mental health issues
@@Praisethesunson and they exploit their workers on top of it. It's hard work with low pay, and most people do it because they care. People who care are the easiest to exploit.
@@PurpleDog06 Well obviously they exploit the workers. They neglect old people to death. It would be shocking if they didn't also extract as much out of their workers as possible too.
God if I end up on a path of no return I would rather be euthanized then be a burden on the lives of people I love
@@Janosevic80 If it’s someone you love then you make sacrifices for them. I never thought of her as a burden.
Thank you so much for featuring this issue John! This is a serious and deadly problem in this country and no media outlets or politicians about it. Families, unfortunately, can no longer stay home and take care of their loved ones 24/7. However, nursing homes are overcrowded and understaffed. Then there are the predatory private nursing homes of which you speak. We have many distressed people bring their loved ones with dementia to the ER with baseline systems. In such a situation, we cannot admit them because there is no acute issue, just their baseline issue. Theydon’t meet the criteria for admission in that instance. Therefore, they get sent back home in the same dangerous situation they were in in the first place.this has got to stop! It’s dangerous and inhumane to the patient! Thank you again!
I am a CNA and the comment of learning by trial and error is completely accurate. the training i got was mostly ways to avoid lawsuits and very little to do with helping people.
Protecting profits, sounds like capitalism for sure.
Sadly...its a business first and customer service is what we as CNAs provide. This rings especially true for agency home care workers...we have to refer to those we care for as "clients". If that doesn't say "for profit" I don't know what does!
Oh, absolutely. I remember when I started my first job over a decade ago and they had me work with another girl for only *3 days.* After that, I'd get asked constantly "who taught you to do that that way? It's not the right way."
"I'm doing it the way the other girl taught me. Maybe yall should offer better training for the people training us."
No one knew what the fuck they were doing the first several months of working at that place. Most quit, the rest learned via trial and error. Thankfully we managed not to kill anyone.
@@MegaKat I actually quit about 2 weeks ago. One of the main reasons was the poor training and exactly what you described. one group telling me to do it this way, another saying i needed to do that at this time, ect, ect, ect. it was never ending and i was just suppose to have figured this all out on my own and i just oculd not take the overnight shift with the VERY hostile day crew who were more interested in complaining behind my back then helping to train me.
@@jotver covid has been amazing for me. I work only with one patient now, under the table, because he's a great dude, Vietnam Vet, former medic and fireman. No use of his left side at all but still lives alone and manages better than I've ever seen a stroke pt. I stopped working when covid hit because I have 3 kids and suddenly had to be able to teach them. Quitting my job felt awful at the time but now it feels amazing. I had no clue how much I was stressed out until I'd gotten a vacation! Still help my favorite patient ever gets his shower and clean his house, but that ain't work, not even close to how hard I broke my back for my job over a year ago.
When my grandmother died last December, it was in the middle of the night. The caretakers there took my grandfather and told him not that she had already died, but that she was about to- so that he could live his life believing he was there on her deathbed. Care like that, heck, even basic human decency *shouldn't come with a price tag.*
Sure sounds better than the caretakers that didn't notice for nearly a full day that my grandmother had fallen from her bed and broken her femur.
I hope I find someplace like that!
What's a grandmaster? Sounds kinky af. Is that like, the owner of your Master Dom? Like, your Dom Daddy's Daddy?
@@jasonvargas7564 A highly skilled chess player, actually.
@@jasonvargas7564 Grandmaster is the Creator of Sakaar of course
"A mouse who wouldn't dress Cinderella, because it had better things to do" LOOOL
My dad had ALS and for the last 5-6 years of his life my mom was his primary caregiver, she was at home making sure he was okay almost 24/7 and only got to go out when the VA caregiver came once a week for about 4 hours. She is the strongest and most compassionate person I have ever known.
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
“Watching Last Week Tonight to take my mind off of the spider invasion while huddled under my bedsheets with my favorite wolf plate.”
I'm petrified of getting old because of this. I already have depression, can you imagine being neglected, vulnerable, and relying on a bunch of strangers who are there for a paycheck that they are not happy with?
I moved to Europe and will probably never come back because of everything wrong with the US.
100%, hopefully I die before I get too old to take care of myself.
Get long term care insurance and make sure you have someone who you trust as your POA. Most importantly. Make sure you have some checking up on you constantly
To be fair, the people who are directly care givers do care. Otherwise a lot of them would do this very hard job for such little money. Of course there some bad people too, but it's not there fault when there so understaffed and not properly trained. Many of them getting diseases like burn out from this jobs.
I know a story about one person, who jelled at someone with dementia, because there were eating to slow. Because they just didn't have enough time to give him the time he needed to eat and the nurse wasn't even aware how horrible this is for the the patient.
@@orarias313 my friends dad elected a POA that he thought he trusted and when he got Alzheimers they bailed to do anything for him. Hording his hard earned money for their inheritance vs for his care.
At the end of five years of full-time caregiving for my mom, unpaid, I ended up disabled myself and unable to re-enter the workforce. The domino effect of financial decline was predictable but unexpected and bewildering.
I am so sorry 🥲
Yes.
❤❤❤
This keeps me up nights. I am virtually certain that it will happen to me and my family as well. I'm so sad to hear your story.
Jeebus christ... could you flee the country to a more humane one?
Disabled yourself? Let me guess, multiple falls? Hopefully not your tailbone, I work in Home Health, and I fell on my porch 4 months ago -- fracturing it.
Then last week, my client disregards my warnings, tells me to fuck off, and attempts to force his wheelchair over a wooden hump in the floor. He tipped it backwards.
He's an amputee, so he couldn't help in getting himself up, so I had to push him AND his wheelchair up from behind.
Sprained my wrist in the process, I know how you feel and I"m sorry.
In Canada we have the same problem. We as a society have to treat our elderly a lot better. I say start by doing away with these for profit homes all together. They are a cancer.
I remember seeing all the horrifying nursing home stories on TV when I was A KID. I'm 62 now and NOTHING has changed. It's actually worse.
Never forget the women at a Brookdale facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma who was left on a bus for nearly 29 hours where she ultimately died of hyperthermia. The temperature outside for that time period was around 90° F and her core body temperature at the scene measured to be around 102-104° F. This scenic drive they went on took place on August 27th at 1pm, they returned an hour or so later and her body wasn’t found until August 28th at 7pm, this took place in 2016.
Jesus, that's horrifying.
As if that wasn't stomach churning enough for everyone in general, it happened one day after my grandpa died (in a considerably less horrifying way). I feel sad and angry every August 20 and 26 since 2016, even though my birthday is that week. I doubt I'm going to forget the story you just told me, and I wonder if I'll have strong feelings during next 27 and 28 too.
I'm tearing up while writing this.
I could not be happier that you and the team decided to do a piece on this. It's a god damn nightmare.
I was a dietary aid 25 years ago and the residents got quality care. The ratio was 5 to one, now it's 20 to one. (Same place) Although I was no longer there when I was I had to fight for my residents to get quality food. The people get a bath every 3 days. You better have family to advocate for you or you are out of luck