For eight years, Thomas Smallwood got around relatively well for a man with no legs. Poor circulation had led Smallwood, 63 at the time, to a difficult choice: his legs or his life. He chose the latter. You don't need legs to be a man, he thought. The man makes the legs.
Smallwood was among as many as 12 percent of nursing home residents — 168,000 out of the 1.4 million — designated "low-need," meaning that the assistance that they do need could conceivably be delivered in their own homes or in assisted living. And according to a recent November 2010 pilot study by researchers at Cornell University, more than half of that low-need population could transition back into the community with the right social supports.
"People just assume that a nursing home is a one-way street," says Rhoda Meador, associate director of outreach and extension at Cornell's College of Human Ecologyand author of the study. "But many practitioners don't accept that."
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This is an excellent program! Unless you have had a relative in a nursing home, it's hard to understand just how depressing and devastating it is. It's as if we are warehousing them until they die. It's wonderful to hear about efforts to give these patients hope and comfort again!
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