Assandache7 answer is right on. Must have been an aide once upon a time. I lived in nothing but County homes because Medicaid paid my way but that doesn't mean you have no right's either. If you can't keep your family member at home, than at least make frequent visits to the facility because if you don't your family member will be taken advantage of, manipulated and possibly abused. Becoming a CNA is one of the easiest decent paying jobs to get and certain kinds of people who are forced off of welfare get these jobs. The elderly and disabled are easy marks from there on out, so visit often otherwise something bad will happen. The dementia patients are the one's that are messed with the most...
As a former resident of 8 years, I refused to get up before 10:30am! The CNAs only get the residents that can't make decisions for themselves or the one's that can't speak, up so early. Some residents, on their care plan, say that they must be sitting up to eat breakfast because they have a choking hazard. As far as the rest... from what I figured out, most of the CNAs would rush to get their first rounders up before breakfast just so they could go on their first break. Honestly, that's what I saw. I was a very young resident, so I was friends more with the workers than the residents, They confided in me. Plus I went to high school with a lot of them. The family has the right to demand anything for their family members. Just so you all know...
Assandache7 - those guidelines all sound just terrific in theory but probably not in reality.....If they dont want to get up, get dressed & get down to a meal, yes they can have a tray in thier room. But if they don't eat, tray gets picked up untouched & if they loose weight well too bad or say hello to a feeding tube. If they don't want to get dressed and change clothes, they don't have to and can just stay in dirty pj's till its a health & safety issue. If they don't want to allow for bed linens to get changed, or bathe or shower, or have their hair combed, ditto. Family gets all peeved & indignant but if their elder just won't or refuses to bathe, eat, move, get with the social system of the NH, the NH won't make them and cannot make them unless there are doctors orders for a specific action like medication 1hr before /after a meal or wound care. But is that what you want for them?
One issue is that for many being in or having family in a facility, is that this is their first time dealing with a long term dormitory-like situation and also their first time ever in dealing with staff. An elder who wants to loll around till 11 & then expect staff to do for them....well they better be in private $$$ pay where staff is more attuned to being treated as servants. Your not going to get Ritz-Carlton amenities at a Comfort Inn. That approach in a NH on Medicaid won't work and a facility can easily find conditions to send family a 30 day notice that although they just love, love, love mom unfortunately they cannot meet the level of care needed for mom and she needs to move out OR that family will need to hire at the family's expense an aide from a list of bonded & vetted agencies that the facility works with.
Really if you can get your elder to get assimilated with how their facility runs, everbody is better off.
A lot of this is related to the timing needed for food service. Dietary requirements are pretty hard n' fast by the state with on-site regulatory visits. Institutional food service is usually set up on 12 hr blocks for a required 3 meals with a 2 hr window front & back for prep & clean up. Food costs are pretty much a budget buster (even if its an all Sysco or US Foods vendor program) for NH that are mainly Medicaid so whatever can happen to get them fed & done at the minimum cost & time will have to be the plan. If that means trays in rooms @ 5:30 & seated breakfast @ 6:00 that's what's going to need to be done. I think the average national room & board daily Medicaid reinbursement is $ 175 which means there is very little room for take-your-time dining.
That being said, one of the best things to do for your elder when you visit bring is to bring them a nice sandwich or even a healthy options kids meals from a fast food place that works for their diet and spend the hr or so needed to have them eat it. Want to make night shift nursing staff happy?......bring in a couple of sleeves of kids birthday party mini ice cream / sherberts that grocery stores sell pretty cheaply for them to dispense out as needed. Staff will love you and therefore love your elder as well.
My mother stayed in a really nice rehab facility after hip surgery. If she didn't want to get up early, she could sleep in and they'd bring a small tray with foods that could hold and be OK to eat whenever she got up.
I think forcing elderly people to wake up before 8 am is awful--I realize the necessity of getting all these people clean, dressed and fed must be daunting, but personally? my best sleep comes between 3 am and 9 am and if somebody wakes me up earlier I am not a happy camper.
One facility I know, caters to each "group" of people--the early risers, the later sleepers and the folks who didn't care if they had breakfast at all. They had a "breakfast bar" and it was open from 5 am to 10. That's a pretty good stretch of time. I need to add that this place was nothing short of amenities and at 10K+ a month, you betcha they catered to their residents. Money can buy a lot of comfort.
Does anyone know why many places like to get the residents up so early? I mean, it's not like they have a job to get to. Since they aren't usually going anywhere, why not let them sleep as long as they want or at least until 9:00 a,m? Even if the staff wants to get baths, meds, etc. it seems to me that could be worked around so most don't have to get up early. Perhaps, they want to ensure that they will be very sleepy by early that evening and they will go to bed early.
One LTC I worked at day shift started at 6:00AM everyone was up and dressed and those who were scheduled for showers were done by 7:30 breakfast in the dining room. The other one LTC a few residents were up very early, dressed because of fall risks..if they were awake trying to get out of bed..
I live in Texas. I'm a CNA of 7 years and we were having a huge debate about what the time really is by the state and the night shift would start at 5:30 and there is only for resadents on the list to get up some were saying that you can't get anyone up tell 6 are trays come at 7:30. So my thing was if they stat 30 min befor we get there then it's fine and. And if they do not want to get up then that is fine I don't make anyone get out of bed if they don't want too. It's just I looked all over the web and could not find an answer to this anywhere to confirm what the answer is
I know here in NY, dinner to breakfast time gap cannot be more than 14 hours, so if dinner is at 5PM, breakfast has to happen by 7AM, unless there is an evening snack.
I'm not sure about the meaning of this question. At my mom's nh, which is in Connecticut, they ask her if she's ready to get up once she's awake. I mean, breakfast trays come into the room at a certain time, but getting up and dressed is up to the patient. As is when she is gotten ready for bed. And no, it's not a posh place, by any stretch.
14 Answers
Helpful Newest
First Oldest
First
ADVERTISEMENT
One issue is that for many being in or having family in a facility, is that this is their first time dealing with a long term dormitory-like situation and also their first time ever in dealing with staff. An elder who wants to loll around till 11 & then expect staff to do for them....well they better be in private $$$ pay where staff is more attuned to being treated as servants. Your not going to get Ritz-Carlton amenities at a Comfort Inn. That approach in a NH on Medicaid won't work and a facility can easily find conditions to send family a 30 day notice that although they just love, love, love mom unfortunately they cannot meet the level of care needed for mom and she needs to move out OR that family will need to hire at the family's expense an aide from a list of bonded & vetted agencies that the facility works with.
Really if you can get your elder to get assimilated with how their facility runs, everbody is better off.
https://www.medicare.gov/what-medicare-covers/part-a/rights-in-snf.html
It says you have the right to get up when you want and go to bed when you want...
That being said, one of the best things to do for your elder when you visit bring is to bring them a nice sandwich or even a healthy options kids meals from a fast food place that works for their diet and spend the hr or so needed to have them eat it. Want to make night shift nursing staff happy?......bring in a couple of sleeves of kids birthday party mini ice cream / sherberts that grocery stores sell pretty cheaply for them to dispense out as needed. Staff will love you and therefore love your elder as well.
I think forcing elderly people to wake up before 8 am is awful--I realize the necessity of getting all these people clean, dressed and fed must be daunting, but personally? my best sleep comes between 3 am and 9 am and if somebody wakes me up earlier I am not a happy camper.
One facility I know, caters to each "group" of people--the early risers, the later sleepers and the folks who didn't care if they had breakfast at all. They had a "breakfast bar" and it was open from 5 am to 10. That's a pretty good stretch of time. I need to add that this place was nothing short of amenities and at 10K+ a month, you betcha they catered to their residents. Money can buy a lot of comfort.