The Crisis in America's Nursing Homes: What Are We Doing Wrong?

Rating:
Summary: A compassionate, complete book.
Review: Guy Seaton's book is a compassionate, complete review of the situation in America's nursing homes.
Replete with case histories and with analyses of "what we are doing wrong", the book casts a worrying light on the general landscape, yet offers valid solutions for people with aging parents on how to choose a humane nursing home.

Rating:
Summary: We did not know
Review: Mr. Seaton brings us the bad news that America's nursing homes are dismal places in which to live and to work. He does so by revealing just enough of his own story, by using the device of the case study to make various points, and by structuring both the case studies and the chapters themselves so that the reader is never overwhelmed and always intrigued. His chapter "The Healthcare Army" describes the various players in the average nursing home, and gives the audience a slight taste of their daily misery. For the social scientist and the concerned relative alike, this chapter could serve as an organizational guide to direct patient advocacy.
Like its close relative, the personal trauma memoir, institutional critiques such as this one are about as exciting as a case of mild indigestion. That may be because the big subjects are inherently difficult to capture in prose. The existence of an outrage does not a call to action make. There are, for example, many Holocaust narratives, but there is only one Night. In this terrifying little book, Elie Wiesel merely tells the story of his own experience, without many generalizations. The result is economical, moving, and unadorned- and this book remains unsurpassed as a tale of horror, not because the experience is unique, but because the telling of the experience is so well crafted. Mr. Seaton's book, while describing a very different situation in another genre, owes its force to the craft and skill of the author. As much as he has to say, the ultimate grace of this book is that readers will have their own comments on fate of our elders in nursing homes.
I have only one quibble with Mr. Seaton. Our elders and their caregivers are not in the midst of a "crisis". A stronger word- "atrocity" for instance- seems appropriate here. Our hyperbole driven society seems to have a crisis a minute. From the celebrity escapade to the latest international massacre, everything clamors for attention. Many years from now, our children will question us about our integrity with the benefit of hindsight. History will call us to task for one or two "crises", and my bets are on the question of our response to the AIDS pandemic, and our ... treatment of the elderly. Read this book- so that when your grandchildren ask what you did and why, you will not be caught with the ... excuse of "We did not know.".
M. Riggs MD, eBook Reviews Weekly

Rating:
Summary: By a health care professional and nursing home owner
Review: The Crisis In America's Nursing Homes: What Are We Doing Wrong? by health care professional and nursing home owner Guy Seaton is a sober, serious, informed and informative look at a severe health care crisis facing our aging nation. Written by an experienced and thoughtful author who first started working in nursing homes more than three decades ago, The Crisis In America's Nursing Homes expertly surveys the manifold shortfalls of Medicare and Medicaid, and addresses the urgent social policy question as to why things in nursing homes are in such bad shape and what can be done about it. The Crisis In America's Nursing Homes is very highly recommended reading for health care activists, nursing home reform advocates, governmental policy makers, and anyone concerned about the quality of care they or their loved ones can expect for a nursing home environment.