"Sick" day

On 8/5/2011 5:55 PM, wrote:

But that isn't even my main worry. My main worry is being in some horrible
state-run nursing home, "cared for" by minimum-wage teenagers who don't
give a s***. Whatever happens, I'm not going to end up in a posh care
facility with well-trained professional care-givers and a high staff-to-
patient ratio. I will be dependent on government benefits - which, by the
way, I have worked for and paid into *for my entire life* - that are getting
more and more draconian by the minute. Essentially, my government has just
said to me, "It's not our responsibility to care for you when you can't
care for yourself. That's your loved ones' job. Oh, you don't have loved
ones to care for you? Sucks to be you!"

Do you know ANYONE who won't end up in a government-run nursing home
should they be unlucky enough to have a prolonged and debilitating
illness? I know maybe one family who might have the resources to pay for
private care for a while should a family member need it, and I'm not
sure about them since of course I don't know the details of their
private finances. I'm talking about the really major illnesses, of
course - dementia, various kinds of paralysis and disability due to
neurological diseases or some cancers and their treatment; that sort of
thing.

Last stats I saw for Canada, most people never need to use a nursing
home. Some of those who do will manage to postpone their entry into a
home, with the subsequent lack of privacy and autonomy, with family
support and/or government-subsidized home care workers, but that's by
far the most common option. Paying someone to provide high levels of
care is out of most people's reach. We're not talking about paying a few
dollars under the table for a bit of heavy cleaning or some assistance
bathing. We're talking 24/7 supervision, special equipment for lifting,
bathing, toileting and moving around, and so on.

Of course, I suppose like most people, I've been in and out visiting
people in some of the local nursing homes over the years, and I don't
think they usually run to actual neglect or abuse. I'd still rather not
have to live in one, but if I end up in one, so be it. I don't have any
guarantee that I won't have a long and disabling illness, end up
penniless, and have to accept the ministrations of the staff in a
government-run nursing home with as much grace as I can muster. No one
does.

--
Cheryl