It Shouldn't Be This Way: The Failure of Long-Term Care - Softcover

M.D., Robert L. Kane; West, Joan C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082651488X ISBN 13: 9780826514882

Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press, 2005

Synopsis

The failure of long-term care is the country's best-kept embarrassing secret. Almost every adult in the United States will either enter a nursing home or have to deal with a parent or other relative who does. Studies show that 40 percent of all adults who live to age sixty-five will enter a nursing home before they die, while even more will use another form of long-term care.

Part memoir, part practical guide, part prescription for change, It Shouldn't Be This Way is a unique look at the problems of long-term care. Robert L. Kane, a highly experienced physician and gerontologist, and his sister, Joan C. West, tell the painful story of what happened to their mother after she suffered a debilitating stroke and spent the last years of her life in rehabilitation, assisted-living facilities, and finally a nursing home. Along the way, her adult children encountered some professionals who were kind and considerate but also many frustrations—inadequate care and the need to hire private duty aides, as well as poor communication and lack of coordination throughout the system. The situation, they found, proved far more difficult than it needed to be.

As the authors recount their mother's story, they impart various lessons they learned from each phase of the experience. They alert those who are confronting such situations for the first time about what they will likely face and how to approach the problems. Closing with a broader look at why long-term care is the way it is, they propose steps to make necessary reforms, including the development of national organizations to work for change. Their message to families, care professionals, and policy-makers could not be more urgent.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"An extraordinary blend of personal and professional vision on a problem that has both policy and spiritual dimensions. This book does what a support group does: tells you that you are not alone. It helps you interpret your experience, understand it, put words to it, and crystallize your understanding, both emotional and intellectual. "Many of the authors' insights will be useful to caregivers - especially those caring for elderly parents - who need to know:

- That hospitals have their own institutional needs at heart, not your parents'

- That discharge planners are not your friends

- How to evaluate nursing homes

- When and how to conduct discussions about DNR (do not resuscitate) wishes "These and other practical but crucial issues are dealt with in clear detail that will help people know how to act and talk when they are in similar situations. Beyond these practical things, Kane and West illuminate the emotional landscape of parental care - even harder issues to prepare for and to talk about. "It's a tremendously worthwhile book, with enormous potential value both to lay people and policy professionals." --Deborah Stone, Research Professor, Department of Government, Dartmouth College

About the Author:

Joan C. West, an educator for over thirty years, has been an elementary school classroom teacher, mentor, staff developer, and workshop leader. She is currently an adjunct professor at St. Joseph's College in Patchogue, New York, where she supervises student teachers in their field placement. She was the principal caregiver for her mother during the episode described in this book.

Robert L. Kane, M.D., holds an endowed chair in long-term care and aging at the Minnesota School of Public Health. The author or editor of more than twenty-five books and three hundred journal articles, he has analyzed long-term systems both in this country and abroad

About this edition

• Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 082651488X
• ISBN 13: 9780826514882
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200