What’s the difference between a nursing home and a day care center for kids, when it comes to the number of staff? A lot of people are asking.

“It’s a disgrace,” Pemble said. “If the same rules and regulations were in place for child-care facilities, there would be an uproar.” She has joined with Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform in pushing a bill that would require Kentucky to join 37 other states in setting minimum standards for the number of caregivers in nursing homes — much as Kentucky requires for day-care centers.

And:

House Bill 109, sponsored by Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, would require nursing homes to have one nurse’s aide for every nine residents during the day shift; one aide per 13 residents during the evening shift; and one aide for every 42 at night.

ONE aide for 42 at night? Can that be accurate?

The industry needs to wake up and stop fighting over staffing levels. It’s pretty simple: WE NEED MORE AIDES.

What isn’t simple is getting them. Where do we find the aides? How do we pay them enough money to stay in the work? Who pays them, too? Do we want to regulate the system even more? Until society starts viewing elderly people are worthy citizens, we won’t see changes, I hate to say.