Sosionomien opintomatka USA:ssa Michigan State Universityn vieraina 25.9.-7.10.11

Osa 12:  Housing Services In Burcham Hills Retirement Community In Lansing

http://www.burchamhills.com/

Bucham hills garden and playground for visiting grand children

Pirkko Aavaluoma

Housing services provided in Burcham Hills are based on The National Elderly Justice Act which is designed to prevent, detect, treat, understand, intervene in and, where appropriate, prosecute elder abuse, neglect and exploitation. Federal elder abuse prevention law seem to be important victory of for aging advocates, but what is an old person like that American society regard him as worth of care?  http://www.elderjusticecoalition.com/

Don’t worry! Aging is worthy if you have afford for living in Burcham Hills. Services are highly regulated and cover both health- and social services. They are provided by multidisciplinary teams on the basis of needs of their clients. Services, as physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, recreational therapy, social services, nursing, physician, dietitian, and additional support services are available as needed. The staff is composed of 300 professionals working as social workers, practical nurses, nurses in charge and kitchen and laundry workers. Unlike in Finland nurses have no touch to residents; they don’t do nursing as Finnish nurses, who often share the same duties with practical nurses. They are supervisors and instruction givers. This kind of hierarchy I never have faced during my work history in residential homes for the Elderly in Finland.  Vice versa nursing assistants seem to have sometimes the closest touch to residents, who claiming that nurses have nothing else to do but sitting in front of their computers.

Community is divided in the Resident Centre and the Centre of Health and Rehabilitation. Services include short term and long term nursery. Need for service can occur, when an elderly person fall down and ends up in a hospital (e.g.) and is in need of nursing and social services in his or her process of healing. Rehabilitating disabled elderly requires efficient actions because a risk at leaving dependent on residential care is high. The aim of social work is releasing a clients adaption back in to own home or a community with accordance with his or her own capacity.  A social worker is in charges of monitoring and assessing of clients rehabilitation process to help in finding appropriate services he or she needs. A social worker is in closely collaboration with nurses, which make the team not only multidisciplinary but client oriented.

The person-centred approach is the main value both in the short or long term nursery. A target in background is healing and rehabilitation so that returning to the prior level of function could be

possible in a living environment, in a word: a community in which a client’s needs and resources are recognized and respected. Amount of social services is huge; a week programme with full of different kind of services from physical exercises to reminisce and music group. I am wondering what kind of comprehension of human nature might be in background? As in Finland, we assume that retirement is not your end. We have in future a lot of old persons who continues their active life after retirement. And activation is one of our working practises in social and health care field also in Finland.  In Burcham Hills everyone didn’t need residential services. Week programme offered to those an opportunity to avoid exlusion and loneliness and a tool to get involved to a human community.

Table ready for elderly coming to have lunch

Despite of huge amount of different kind of services, everyone in need cannot afford to them. Medicare is a social insurance programme to people who are aged 65 or over or who are permanently physically disabled or congenital physical disability. To be eligible a person’s income level has to be under 2000 dollars per month, in euros only 1540 according to the exchange rate. The supplemental insurance is called Medicate, which a person has been admitted from a private heath insurance company. Need based services seem to be oriented to those who are solvent and capable of bearing the costs to an insurance company. The poorest ones seem to be a huge challenge in social and health care field in which professionals constantly trying to advocate the need for this kind of services. After all these exciting experiences I prefer aging in Finland!