A Seattle area nursing home recently made national news and it was good news for a change. As Seattle nursing home abuse attorneys know, when nursing homes make the news, it is often bad news about the abuse, poor care, and poor maintenance in nursing homes. The ABC news story focused on West Seattle’s Intergeneration Learning Center daycare that has been going strong for over 30 years and is located in the Providence Mount St. Vincent senior care facility. Daycare students ages 6 years old and younger interact with residents of the senior care facility daily bringing a unique joy and educational experience for the young and old.
Daycare model
In 1991, the first daycare class of 12 children was established at the senior care facility. It is now a thriving daycare with a two-year waitlist. The daycare’s model is to really involve the children into the lives of the nursing home residents. You will not find children locked away in classrooms in an area separate from the residents. Instead, you find them in different locations throughout the nursing home interacting with residents, playing music, socializing, and bonding throughout the day.
Benefits to seniors
Seniors who have moved into nursing homes often struggle with loneliness and depression due to being dependent on other people. It is hard for them to go from seeing friends and engaging in social activities on their own schedule, to having other people manage their days and routines for them. The intergenerational daycare has helped to combat some of that loneliness and depression for seniors as they find immense joy in their daily connections with the daycare children.
Types of nursing home abuse
Other senior living care facilities do not have regular access to the joy that these daycare children bring and the loneliness and depression that seniors often struggle with can be made much worse when they are mistreated in their resident facilities. While nursing homes are not necessarily responsible for making sure that seniors do not feel lonely, they do have significant responsibilities when it comes to caring for their residents and making sure that they are as safe and as healthy as possible. Unfortunately, seniors are incredibly vulnerable and because of this, they often suffer in their nursing home due to improper care and abusive staff members and administrators.
Nursing home mistreatment and abuse may occur in some ways including neglect, isolation, theft, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, negligent medical care, poorly maintained facilities, and unhygienic conditions. Often abuse may continue for long periods because elderly residents may be afraid to complain about it or may not have the mental faculties to recognize that they are being abused.
If you suspect that a loved one has sustained injuries and damages due to nursing home abuse, contact a Seattle nursing home abuse attorney at Russell & Hill, PLLC to schedule a consultation. Our attorneys are advocates for elderly victims and they will fight to see that victims are compensated for their injuries and that responsible facilities and employees are held accountable for their bad acts.