Nursing Assistant Resources On The Web

We have always said that nursing homes are like concentration camps…and we’ve received some pretty ugly comments on this.

Our thinking has always been based on the inevitable but unnecessary decline that occurs with almost all residents. They come to nursing homes and die a slow death. They are starved to death by the lack of decent food choices at first, then the lack of proper assistance with eating when they cannot do this for themselves anymore. They might be lucky enough to be able to walk when they arrive, but they almost always end up bed/wheel chair bound with contractures and other deformities. They end up in diapers because there are not enough aides to bring them to the bathroom when they need to go (vs when some care plan says they are TO GO…and even then the aides don’t have the time to do it right)…

What was once a relatively healthy older person is often not recognized by loved ones just months later- the weight loss and unkempt appearance reminds many of concentration camp victims.

It doesn’t surprise me to know that survivors of the Holocaust have a very difficult time living in nursing homes.

The following article brings to light another aspect of concentration camps many people don’t consider.

Nearly every night, Martin Hornung’s nightmare unfolds to the same haunting strains. Of Auschwitz. Of screaming voices. Of scenes he would rather not relive in the light of day.

“I’m almost afraid to go to sleep,” the 86-year-old retired computer engineer said.

The horrors that revisit Hornung in the dark are common among Holocaust survivors and are a reason why he refuses to enter a nursing home despite his myriad health problems.

Jewish organizations worldwide are working to keep survivors out of such facilities, where the surroundings and routines — strangers in uniforms, desolate shower rooms, medical procedures — can worsen flashbacks.

“It frightens them and brings them back to the Holocaust,” said Dr. Jaclynn Faffer, executive director of Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service, one of the groups helping keep survivors out of nursing homes.

Hornung wouldn’t even consider moving into a nursing home. “I would kill myself.”
[...]
For Alex Moscovic, who survived Birkenau and the horrific medical experiments of Josef Mengele, a flashback came in the dermatologist’s chair. Moscovic needed to have a dime-sized cancerous growth removed. The doctor cauterized the area — and the patient began to shake uncontrollably.

“The smell — it brought me back,” the 77-year-old Moscovic said. “The only way you really left Birkenau was through the smokestacks.”

In case you’re not aware of the specific horrors of the Nazi concentration camp medical experiments, go HERE to learn about it.