[.ca] Nursing Home Horrors, Memoirs of a Nurse: A Novel Based ... (ISBN 0759677387)

A VERY important book:
This is a book that anyone who cares about the elderly MUST read. I have worked in several nursing homes, and I can tell you that, though the institutions themselves met minimum state standards, MINIMUM is simply not good enough. Our elderly are often left in the care of some people who simply are in the business to collect a paycheck. Every caregiver, of course is not like this, but the bad ones often overshadow the good. The staff to patient ratio is inexcusably high, and the elderly are cared for by workers who are not only frazzled and overworked, but in some cases, simply don't care enough to provide first rate care. The patients are usually cared for by nursing assistants, whose training varies from state to state. The care of the elderly, or lack thereof, is something that should infuriate everyone who has ever had to put a loved one in a nursing home. Perhaps one way to help would be for people to write to their congressperson, and lobby them to raise "minimum" standards in all nursing homes.