Nurses aides banned from helping residents eat in the main dining room.

Here there is typically a waiting list for assisted living so I doubt they take residents who need more than the care level offered in that setting.

In my state medicare and medicaide will be paying for residents in IL and AL and if those places have empty places you know they will admit nursing home pts.

freshair76, I don't know the qualifications for acceptance at that particular assisted living. What activities of daily living are residents expected to be able to perform? My daughter says that at the center where she works, many, many of the long-time residents would no longer qualify for assisted living -- by the rules they really should go to a nursing home. But the informal policy is to try to accommodate them as long as possible, even providing services that go beyond what they were originally offered.

This is good for long-time residents who decline. They can stay were they are comfortable, in familiar surrounding, with familiar people to socialize with, aides and caregivers they know, etc. To the extent that the extra services are charged and paid for, it is good for the care center. But it may be less happy for new residents or residents who don't decline.

"Hey, I'm paying for assisted living. If I wanted to be in a nursing home environment, that is what I would have signed up for! If you are going to have people here who need nursing home services can't you at least keep it discrete?"

Hmmm ...

When my husband was in a rehab center and I went with him to meals, it turned my stomach to see some of the feeding practices. One woman couldn't swallow, but she chewed up her food and spit it into her glass. Every mouthful. Others had to be coaxed to eat. Hearing "Open your mouth wide, Mary, here comes your mashed peas" over and over tends to be a conversation killer. My husband (who could feed himself) was so distraught by all this chaos he couldn't eat at all. One perceptive staff person suggested that he might like to have his meal in the then-empty lounge, "away from the commotion."

I suppose it sounds insensitive and politically incorrect, but if a certain level of decorum is promised for the dining room experience, then perhaps having residents who need to be hand fed (especially if that is outside of the usual scope of care level for the facility) in a separate setting for eating is a way to accommodate needs of both populations.

I hope the need-to-be-hand-fed room is just as nice as the main dining room, with table linens, centerpieces, pictures on the wall, etc. I hope these individuals are not treated as second-class citizens.

I guess I could argue either side on this one. But my first question is, are residents expected to be able to feed themselves when they sign up for this place? Or is feeding residents one of the choices on the menu of services? Is the separate-but-equal dining room policy explained up front?

Have you asked the reason? I would be interested in how they explain it.

Hi jeannegibbs. I know you are exactly right about the reason why. It really bugs me, though. For a little while husbands and wifes were not allowed to feed their loved ones, either. Now, thank goodness, they can.
Hopefully when the able bodied folks are bannished from the main eating area because they are no longer "acceptable for public view" they won't miss their friends or feel resentful because they pay just as much to live there as the other still acceptable residents. Thanks for the answers everyone. I just needed to throw that out there.

This is assisted living, not a nursing home, right? Perhaps it is policy that in order to eat in the main dining room you have to be able to feed yourself. If you can't, then another location is provided for you. This may be done out of consideration for the other diners. There may be a conscientious effort being made to keep the main dining room as close to "independent living" dining rooms as possible. It may also be that people who need to be fed eat at a slower pace and perhaps do best with fewer distractions.

The way to find out would simply be to ask. No point in harboring suspicions -- just find out.

It is possible that the aides tried to feed someone with problems in swolling their food other than that I can see no reason for the facility now letting them feed the residents-when I use to visit my friend Winnie I would feed her and others at her table and was allowed to do it-ask the nurses in charge why that is their policy-it would be interesting to find out their reasons for doing this.

What do you suspect? I am curious! How strange it sounds. I wonder if the aides were having trouble separating the care of feeding from the other residents. I mean, maybe the aide would be there to help the resident eat and then other , more able bodied residents , would want the aide to help them with non essentials thus making it hard for the aide to feed the resident in need. ? Just a thought. Or the other residents did not want to see the less able bodied residents being fed? Complaints from the family members of the more capable residents? Hmmmm