Advocates want to make nursing homes more comfortable and humane, with home-like amenities and resident-centered care. And they're looking to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) for leadership on the code changes that can help make it happen.
One size does not fit all. That's the message of a movement called "culture change," which aims to individualize the care and well being of nursing home residents across the country. Instead of two or more people to a room, with each room furnished almost identically, culture-change supporters seek rooms that are as individual as their inhabitants, with personal belongings treated not as threats to efficiency and care, but as key elements of residents' health and happiness.
Rather than a single large dining area that serves uniform, institutional food, culture-change advocates envision smaller, more home-like eating and kitchen areas serving a greater variety of food, and that may even involve residents in the food preparation. Even the term "nursing home" is subject to a phase out in favor of names like care community or life center. Advocacy groups such as Pioneer Network and Society for the Advancement of Gerontological Environments (SAGE) hope to push culture change beyond the early adopters and into the mainstream, essentially reshaping the landscape of nursing home care. Read more.