Nursing Home Resident Satisfaction

For successful aging to continue, people need to live out their older years in the same manner that they lived their younger years. This statement is continent upon the fact that they lived a non-destructive life in the past. Residents need to continue to feel and not close down their hearts to their personal feelings or the feelings of others. They need to share intimate moments with others. They need to express tenderness, feel alive, and share that life with others. They need to rely on their sense of intuition in the same way they had done prior to living in a nursing home. They need the friendship of others and the growth that comes with the ups and downs of friendship. They also need to allow themselves to be open to love and to give love to others. Many residents may be widows/widowers. They may have shared wonderful lives with spouses who have predeceased them. In their new setting, some find new love. Residents need to take the freedom to explore the potential new love holds for them, regardless of whether family members or friends approve. Love can be a wonderful support for any resident of a nursing home. Love invites growth in both people. The love of another can help during the difficult moments. Love can offer a sense of security and serenity in an environment that is often looked upon as the last stop before the end of a person’s life.

People who age successfully are those who look for meaning on a daily basis. They live their lives to make a difference. They watch for signs of reassurance that they are touching someone in a special way, or are being graced by someone in a special way.

It is for that reason that some residents participate in intergenerational programs. They play a large role in the lives of day care children, elementary school children, and to some extent, students who attend high school. They listen to the children’s stories, offer suggestions, read to those just learning to read, share their life stories with the older children, watch play rehearsals and offer feedback, listen to musical renditions and offer support through applause and words of encouragement. Residents need these moments. They are meaningful moments, especially if residents do not have children, grandchildren of their own, or their own grandchildren, great-grandchildren live out of state and do not have the opportunity to write, call, or visit.

From the spiritual perspective, the aging process can still be a time of growth. If accepted in a positive manner, suffering and pain can be part of a spiritual purification process depending upon the person’s religious background. Pain and suffering can focus the person to see that they are more than what they are experiencing at this moment. They are connected to God and in that relationship can share in this present experience for the good of others. It is often heard among Catholic residents that their pain and suffering is accepted without complaint as a way to be united with Jesus for the sake of others. They are able to see their suffering in a way that does not isolate them, but allows them to align themselves with it for a greater good. Some residents comment that when they offer up their pain and suffering for another, the pain is much easier to handle and the suffering diminishes to some degree.