Tuesday, March 13, 2007
"I Hope I Die Before I Get Old"
This is the subject title for a comment I left regarding an eight part article in Forbes.com about "The Fundamentals of Running A Senior Living Home", about which I was alerted by Mona at The Tangled Neuron [11/14/08 Update: Mona has deleted the post to which this link directs since I've published this post.]. Not only did she write an excellent, thought provoking post in reaction to the article, she mass mailed others of us online journalists who have an interest in such subjects, urging us to the following tasks "If you find the series as offensive as I do...":
I know this first post after my enforced hiatus was not mentioned in the post below...it's sort of an ER post. If you're at all interested in how your business minded children are being encouraged to package your old age for maximum profit, click over to this article. To be fair, there are sentences (only a few) here and there that attempt to lend a little dignity to the enterprise of professional elder caregiving, but not nearly enough to keep your blood from running cold.
The Mom's grabbing my attention.
Later.
- "leave a comment about my post"
- "write about this on your blog"
- "send a comment to Forbes.com editors by scrolling down to the comments button" at the site of the article.
I Hope I Die Before I Get OldIt occurs to me, now, that I probably should have left my comment on the introductory section of the article, but, oh well, I didn't realize each section was going to have a unique comment section. I did click through the comment link to all sections, including the introduction, and notice that, so far, no comments have been published (I'm not about to say that no comments have been posted...I rather suspect that I am not the only person who has thus far commented on the article).
- For an excellent response to this article focused on the use of "Sunrise" as a model, see: [Mona's post] [11/14/08 Update: Mona has deleted the post to which this link directs since I've published this post.]. [I'm not sure if Forbes.com comments section allows for html, so I boldly cut and pasted all urls listed in this comment naked].
- I'm frightened that the customers for a nursing home are also considered its greatest external threat. Is this what's wrong with capitalism, I wonder?
- Why wasn't The Eden Alternative used as a model for such businesses?
- Interesting that this story is not among the "Most Popular" [referring to a sidebar box to the left of the article that lists the stories that are most popular at any particular time]. What does this say about our attitude toward compassionate caregiving?
I know this first post after my enforced hiatus was not mentioned in the post below...it's sort of an ER post. If you're at all interested in how your business minded children are being encouraged to package your old age for maximum profit, click over to this article. To be fair, there are sentences (only a few) here and there that attempt to lend a little dignity to the enterprise of professional elder caregiving, but not nearly enough to keep your blood from running cold.
The Mom's grabbing my attention.
Later.
Comments:
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Originally posted by Anonymous: Wed Mar 14, 11:59:00 AM 2007
OMG. I read the Forbes article and I am truly disgusted. I did register my comments to the editor. No holds barred. Unbelievable that Forbes even published this garbage.
The last thing I read before I stopped reading because I was horrified was something to the effect of using technology because "just because our residents are forgetful doesn't mean we have to be". Yikes. I'm nauseated.
Sue
Originally posted by Gail Rae: Wed Mar 14, 02:22:00 PM 2007
I'm so pleased you noticed this post and followed it through, Sue. The only way business as usual in the professional elder care industry is going to be stopped is if us future "external threats" rally to the cause. Hmmm...maybe it's not so bad being considered an "external threat"! Maybe, in fact, it's to our advantage!
Originally posted by Anonymous: Fri Mar 16, 10:01:00 AM 2007
I don't see that they've published any comments including ours. I'm sure that there's a reason for that...
Sue
Originally posted by Gail Rae: Fri Mar 16, 11:20:00 AM 2007
I've been keeping a watch on this, too, Sue. I'm not surprised. I guess what surprises me is that I thought Forbes would publish the comments, if not in the interest of fairness, at least in order to better inform future elder care facility owners/managers of the exact nature of their "external threats".
I just searched Google for Forbes. Needless to say, the first couple of pages are almost exclusively links to various areas of Forbes.com. But, I noticed, as the third item in my search, a link to Technorati's facility which posts links to all labels "in the known universe" existing on the web for a variety of particular topics, one of which is "Forbes". Although I've been ignoring labeling, lately, I decided this is a good excuse to label this post. So, I did. I assume, although I haven't yet checked, that everyone else who posted on this also labeled their posts.
Now, I'm hoping that this journal is considered part of the known universe!
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OMG. I read the Forbes article and I am truly disgusted. I did register my comments to the editor. No holds barred. Unbelievable that Forbes even published this garbage.
The last thing I read before I stopped reading because I was horrified was something to the effect of using technology because "just because our residents are forgetful doesn't mean we have to be". Yikes. I'm nauseated.
Sue
Originally posted by Gail Rae: Wed Mar 14, 02:22:00 PM 2007
I'm so pleased you noticed this post and followed it through, Sue. The only way business as usual in the professional elder care industry is going to be stopped is if us future "external threats" rally to the cause. Hmmm...maybe it's not so bad being considered an "external threat"! Maybe, in fact, it's to our advantage!
Originally posted by Anonymous: Fri Mar 16, 10:01:00 AM 2007
I don't see that they've published any comments including ours. I'm sure that there's a reason for that...
Sue
Originally posted by Gail Rae: Fri Mar 16, 11:20:00 AM 2007
I've been keeping a watch on this, too, Sue. I'm not surprised. I guess what surprises me is that I thought Forbes would publish the comments, if not in the interest of fairness, at least in order to better inform future elder care facility owners/managers of the exact nature of their "external threats".
I just searched Google for Forbes. Needless to say, the first couple of pages are almost exclusively links to various areas of Forbes.com. But, I noticed, as the third item in my search, a link to Technorati's facility which posts links to all labels "in the known universe" existing on the web for a variety of particular topics, one of which is "Forbes". Although I've been ignoring labeling, lately, I decided this is a good excuse to label this post. So, I did. I assume, although I haven't yet checked, that everyone else who posted on this also labeled their posts.
Now, I'm hoping that this journal is considered part of the known universe!
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