Are nursing homes the right decision?

Michael, 51, entrepreneur

The presence of nursing homes gives me some confidence. Who knows how life will turn out? The worst thing for me is to be helpless. When I was a teenager, our neighbor in the stairwell died. Lonely old man. The door to his apartment was opened when the smell of decomposition was already on the stairs. So, my grandfather just fell in the bathroom, broke his leg and couldn’t get to the phone to call an ambulance. Doctors then said that he died, most likely, for a long time and painfully. This story shocked me so much that even then I decided for myself that if I faced a lonely old age, I would go to a nursing home. Most likely, I will not have to do this – I have two children, the relationship with them is wonderful. Money has been set aside for a rainy day, so there is enough for a nurse. But all the same, I need to know that in a pinch, I will have somewhere to hide from loneliness when I grow old.

Bob, 43, car mechanic

Our state just needs to get something from the citizens. We need to develop medicine and social services so that lonely old people can live peacefully in their apartments and not suffer at the same time. After all, there are social workers who are obliged to go to buy food for single grandparents and to clean their apartments. There are nurses who could look after them. All this has already been paid for by our taxes. And the state is not enough – they also need to take away the apartments from the old people!

Helen, 44, teacher

My mother is a very old man. She lives in another city, there is no one to look after her. I have long been persuading my mother to move to live with us.

We would have looked after her, and medicine here, in the capital, is better. But mom in any! He says that in his old age he will not go to someone else’s house. And all old people are like that – it is very difficult for them to get used to something new. Moving is a huge stress for them! So it is not because of a good life that they move to nursing homes.

Alex, 39, driver

I would not want to spend my old age in a nursing home. In my opinion, this is tantamount to admitting that you have lived your life in vain: you didn’t raise your children to be looked after in old age, you didn’t save money to hire a nurse, and you didn’t keep your health in order to serve yourself. In my opinion, it is better to rot alive in your apartment than to admit to others that life has passed by!

Mike, 35, entrepreneur

It seems to me that old people do not need to be afraid of nursing homes. There, medical care is provided for them, and living conditions there are no longer as terrible as they were before. And in private boarding houses, conditions are generally better than in a sanatorium. And why hold on to your living space if you are still alone and there is no one to bequeath it to?

Helen, 30, secretary

My aunt decided to take this step. What? There is no one to look after her – I am her only relative, but I don’t have enough money for a nurse, and I myself cannot sit with my aunt – I have a job. In general, we consulted and decided that a nursing home is the best way out of the situation. Sometimes I visit my aunt there. She looks quite happy. I began to feel better, made friends and girlfriends. They now have every weekend – some excursions, dance evenings or an amateur concert. My aunt is now singing in the choir! Is it bad? And before, she did not even go out on a bench to sit at the entrance!

Alice, 50, accountant

If the relationship with the children did not work out, I think this is the best way out. This is better than living in your own apartment, knowing that your relatives are just waiting for them to inherit your living space. For example, my neighbor – a 76-year-old grandmother – lives alone. We, neighbors, go shopping for food. And by the way, my grandmother has two daughters and five adult grandchildren! And they all live not far away! One daughter generally lives on the next street! Children visit her once a month approximately to check whether the grandmother is alive or it’s time to draw up an inheritance. And when the grandma had to be taken to the hospital, again we, the neighbors, did this instead of our own children. Better to live in a nursing home than to count on such children and grandchildren!

Sara, 55, salesperson

If my son does not take care of me in old age, I will definitely go to a nursing home – let him bite his elbows later, that the inheritance from him has drifted away! And most importantly, let her say thanks to his wife. And then how to register with me in an apartment, so she asks, but how to help me at the dacha, you will not wait from her!