Some things just can’t be fixed: A dirty little secret. By Geniusofdespair

On such a dreary day, I decided to talk about a really depressing thing in South Florida that I believe can’t be fixed. I was, early in my do-gooder phase, going to help the elderly in nursing homes. I realized in no time, there is no place I would rather not be. I now have a case of: If I avert my eyes maybe it doesn’t really exist.

Between relative visits and checking them out for relatives, I have been in about 20 nursing homes in Broward. One thing that will get you when you walk in: the smell. Most of them smelled sickly sweet of urine mixed with some unknown substance (I guess you could call it “old people smell”) and whatever the home is using to try to mask it. As you get deeper into the bowels of the home, the smell gets worse. Second thing that will shock you: Moaning people or screaming people. Apparently some Alzheimer's patients moan and cry out — just about all the time. I was happy that my mother-in-law couldn’t hear well as the screaming neighbor was shrill. There are also those patients that are drugged to a stupor. I saw patients lying on the floor. The only thing the residents seem to look forward to: Meals. Frankly, the treatment of the elderly in Broward is rather shocking (I have no experience with nursing homes in Miami-Dade). However, let me add, the more expensive nursing homes, the ones you can’t afford, they seem better. Whomever finally puts you in a nursing home, might not want to spend YOUR MONEY on better care.

My sister, a former hospice nurse who visited patients in Broward nursing homes on a regular basis gave me this unbiased opinion: “Before I would go in a nursing home, I would shoot myself.”

Baby boomers you should heed the saying: Be nice to your kids because they choose your nursing home.