Introduction
Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is arguably among the most effective agency in delivery of elderly care in Green Valley, Arizona. During my two hour visit, I learnt a lot about the organization, ranging from the administration to the clients. My study covered the activities that take place within the organization, the services provided to the clients, the unique needs of the older patients as well as the challenges faced by the staff in delivery of services. The services offered to the clients are related to the health status of such older people. Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is an agency dedicated to proper health care and nutritional guidance for the elderly. The findings of this paper are based on the responses from the interviews administered on both clients and members of the administration. Their views about the organization were as well covered extensively. This paper explains the findings of the two hour visit to Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Services provided at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Among the primary services offered by Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is nutritional counseling. This is concerned with the professional guidance on which foods should be consumed at a particular time by the elderly. Apparently, the elderly people are classified as a special group by the nutritionists since their nutritional needs are different from the needs of an ordinary individual. The elderly, according to the nurses at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, are not supposed to take genetically modified foods as the chemical compounds used in such engineered foods are detrimental to the health and delicate bodies of the elderly (Golant and Hyde 43). As such, they are subjected to natural foods, especially fruits and vegetables. In addition to nutrition care, Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center offers physiotherapy and exercises for the elderly through a gymnasium equipped with relevant tools and instructors.
Other services include rehabilitation, such as drug therapy. It is noteworthy that some of the elderly people at the center are addicted to such things as tobacco. The professional doctors warn against tobacco as it can expose elderly people to such terminal illnesses as cancer of the lungs. Rehabilitation puts such elderly people under drug therapy which entails counseling and the use of actual medicines. Guidance and counseling, which are the two activities at the center of the helping profession, help the elderly people realize that, indeed, taking such substances as tobacco is particularly dangerous (Zimmerman et al 112). In addition to drug rehabilitation and therapy, the staff at the organization offer home based nursing care which entails such activities as bathing, washing and entertainment. Entertainment helps the elderly people overcome the feeling of loneliness and isolation.
Critical problems facing older clients at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
According to nurses and social workers at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the principal problems facing older clients at the center are such things as drug addiction. A considerable percentage of the clients suffered addiction to alcohol and tobacco, things that doctors and medical professionals describe as the most dangerous threats to the health of an old individual. Such addictions have led to the deterioration of the health of clients, especially old males. Another major problem facing the elderly at Santa Rita is the problem of amnesia. Amnesia, which is described variously as temporary loss of memory or simply possession of a faint memory, is a primary characteristic of old age. This problem has no particular cure, and calls for close monitoring of the patients.
Other critical problems facing the elderly include terminal diseases and ailments. Such diseases include cancer, hypertension and diabetes. The diseases, which are mainly associated with old age, are not easily curable; instead need close attention and care by health professionals (Golant and Hyde 83). Such diseases as hypertension require the constant close attention of a nurse or nutritionist. According to nurses at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 60% of their clients suffered diabetes and required close attention. The nurses, as well noted that 90 percent of those suffering from diabetes were suffering from hypertension. Such illnesses are connected to yet another characteristic and problem of old age – emotional instability. Emotional instability causes mood swings in most of the elderly people as they sometimes feel detached from their families.
Challenges facing service delivery at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Social workers at the center explain that delivering services to the aged clients is particularly difficult, considering that the willingness of the patients was extremely low. According to the nurses, lack of cooperation is among the most prominent challenges they face. The old people, for instance, refuse to take drugs according to dosage, instead they stop taking drugs immediately they feel better. An interview with a nurse at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center revealed that most elderly people were quite stubborn when it came to taking drugs. The nurse as well explained that in some instances, the nurses got discouraged and stopped administering the dosages, even though this is against professional ethics. Such stubbornness is associated with emotional instability which causes zero cooperation.
Other challenges that the nurses and other health workers encounter in the process of delivering the services include varying preferences and tastes. The likes and dislikes of the elderly people in the organization were substantially different from time to time. This causes problems in planning such things as meals. The social workers revealed that the preferences of the older clients were quite unpredictable such that some ended up not eating at all. Amnesia was as well identified as a principal challenge since it created almost 100% dependency among the elderly. A good example is the reality that most of the older clients could not remember the time when they were supposed to do such things as taking medicines. Communication emerged as a primary challenge since, following their moody characters; old people may be unwilling to talk at times.
The unique needs of the older people at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Much like all elderly the people at the rural home have peculiar needs. They need such things as the freedom to move around, especially outside the compound. According to the interview I conducted with one client, being in the assisted living institution amounted to some form of imprisonment. As such, moving out of the institution is among their most treasured need. Another need identified among the elderly is the need for family relations. Social workers at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center explained that the elderly have an exceptional affinity for affiliation and belonging. The workers explained that the elderly particularly felt attached to their grandchildren. As such, they needed people such as family members to come visiting them regularly (Golant and Hyde 63). This was made difficult by the actuality that most people have jobs and go to school hence lack time to visit their older relatives.
Another unique issue identified about the older people in Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is the reality that these people have complicated likes, dislikes and general preferences. The elderly, for instance, love sugary things. On the contrary, doctors and healthcare professionals warn against such sugary things. Older women, who are the most affected people, are warned against sugar but insist on taking the same (Zimmerman et al 143). The elderly people in Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center need to be guided and counseled over various issues including emotional instabilities and mood swings. They need to be guided in such a style that they feel appreciated as part of the community. They have to be counseled so as to understand that the nurses are not in any way maltreating them, but trying to help them.
How the local and state policies affect services at Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
The local authorities and state regulations require that the personnel working at all nursing and rehabilitation centers be well trained and professionally qualified. This implies that for anyone to work in Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, they must be holders of relevant degrees and diplomas so as to be in effective conformity with the local and statutory requirements. The primary reason why the government advocates for such qualifications is to help protect the lives and wellbeing of the elderly members of the society (Zimmerman et al 168). This has impacted positively on service delivery in Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center because the services are offered by professionals that are duly qualified and ready to work. In the past nursing homes and assisted living centers employed uneducated and untrained people. This compromised the quality of services offered.
Statutory provisions are in such a way that all individuals should be granted liberty of movement and the right to personal autonomy. Apparently, Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, much like all other elderly care centers, contravenes these rights and freedoms. Even so this cannot be sued against in a court of law as it is out of necessity (Schwarz 69). Apparently, this is the reason why Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center organizes for the older clients to go out and access recreation. This is part of the entertainment program intended to reduce boredom and stress and depression.
What Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center means to the community
Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center means a lot to the rural community, especially to the elderly. The old people have many demands that cannot be provided by their family members and other untrained persons. Untrained persons may not be in a suitable position to manage medication and nutritional care. As such, such assisted living institutions as Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center come in handy in providing such care while reducing dependency on the family as well. Santa Rita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is of great significance as it provides the older members of the rural community with such essentials as security. They make the elderly feel at home and have a feeling of affiliation and belonging. The center provides the much needed elderly care as well as medication and nutritional services. The center is, as well, important to the rest of the community as it provides employment and acts socially responsible
Works cited
Golant, Stephen M, and Joan Hyde. The Assisted Living Residence: A Vision for the Future. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Print.
Schwarz, Benyamin. Assisted living: sobering realities. New York: Haworth Press, 2001. Print.
Zimmerman, Sheryl, Philip D. Sloane, and J K. Eckert. Assisted Living: Needs, Practices, and Policies in Residential Care for the Elderly. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Print.
