Guest Patient Long-Tem Care Comments

Health care, where does one begin to solve the problems that are emerging as we speak. As stated in this blog, the number of patients needing long term care increases daily and will be on the rise for a very long time. As a nation devoted to taking care of the ageing, I believe we are taking steps backwards. The reforms proposed all make a lot of sense to me however they do require some additional spending and it seems to be very hard to get people to realize that change and betterment does not come free. I strongly agree that we need to require better training on the parts of the care givers. I find it hard to believe that you can spend one week and learn everything you need to know to care for an individual who needs medical care. As a health care patient myself, I would be very upset if my care giver was just someone who spent a few hours learning very little about caring for patients and administering medication. It seems to me that we are just trying to get by the cheapest way possible by replacing licensed nurses who have received years of training with someone who can be paid less, requires only hours of training, and will get the job done even if it might not be done in the best interest of the patient. As either patients now or future patients, I believe we need to take a stand and push for reforms like those stated in this blog. By doing this we must also look to our future. As stated in reform #2, we must ourselves take action on long term care insurance. We can not rely on the government to take care of us down the road. Long term care insurance needs to become a staple in our lives just like health, home and car insurance. Many will say that they just can't afford it but the truth is they can't afford not to have it. If the importance of this can be taught to all people early in life and more people start purchasing it, it should become more affordable and also something that people won't be without. As a cancer survivor, I received wonderful care from skilled doctors and nurses who I know were very well trained in what they were doing. I can't imagine what my experience would have been like had they have been people with very little training. As I get older I would like my future experience with health care to be the same as my past experience. Just because people get old or are near death should not mean that they are not as important and don't need wonderful experienced caregivers. We need to care for all ages or illnesses the same. No one life is more important than another. Quality care must become a requirement and reforms like those stated in this blog are just the start.