Wednesday, July 31, 2013

SENIORS - Elder Care in Assisted Living Facilities

"Investigation Finds Pattern of Problems for Elder Care in Assisted Living" PBS Newshour 7/30/2013

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  Finally tonight, troubling cases of elderly care, or lack of it, at some assisted living centers.

Nearly three-quarters-of-a-million Americans reside in more than 30,000 facilities.  They're the subject of an investigation on tonight's Frontline, done in partnership with ProPublica.

A.C. Thompson is co-author of a series of reports for ProPublica and correspondent on tonight's program.  He joins us now.

Well, welcome to you.

And first, for purposes of definition, tell us what you were looking into.  How are you defining assisted living?

A.C. THOMPSON, Frontline/ProPublica:  So, assisted living is the niche of senior housing that's between living at home on your own and living in a nursing home.

So these are people who need some help, they can't live independently anymore, but they don't necessarily need full-on around-the-clock medical care.  So in an assisted living facility, it's more like a home, it's more like an apartment, and what you're getting typically is help with your medication, help with your meals, help to get to the bathroom or dressing if you need it.


"Life and Death in Assisted Living" (full 53:36 video) PBS Frontline 7/30/2013

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