Nursing Homes not just for aged

[cougarnurse]

Interesting: Nursing homes are no longer just for the aged - Northwest - The Olympian - Olympia, Washington

When Lori Hagedorn was working at area nursing homes, she never dreamed she'd be living in one at age 45.

"I used to help elderly people and now I'm living with them 24/7," says Hagedorn, who has been a resident at Orchards Rehabilitation and Care Center in Lewiston since June.

Plagued with chronic medical problems, she is part of a growing population of younger people who need the long-term care, skilled nursing and structure offered in a nursing home.

Two decades ago, about 1 percent of nursing home residents were under the age of 65, estimates Robert Vande Merwe, executive director of Idaho Health Care Association - Idaho Center for Assisted Living, headquartered in Boise.

Now it's closer to 10 percent, according to statistics from the Department of Social and Health Services in Washington state.

"It used to be a place where the aged went," Vande Merwe says. "Now 80 percent of new admissions are coming for short-term rehabilitation."

Some eventually return home or go to an assisted living setting. Some stay until their death, he says. "It becomes their home and we do everything we can to make it a home environment."

Four or five people under the age of 55 are currently living at Orchards, says administrator Mindy Shepard.

"It's not that uncommon because we have a gap in the health care system between the hospital and the nursing home. People like Lori are younger, but they need the medical care. The structure and support of the staff helps people to remain as independent as possible."

Vande Merwe expects the upswing in younger patients to continue. A major cause is obesity and all of its complications, such as diabetes, he says. "People are crashing earlier now because they're not managing their chronic diseases."

Some children are in nursing homes because of severe birth defects and disabilities caused by drug and alcohol abuse during their mothers' pregnancies. Other young people have diseases with no cure, such as multiple sclerosis, and may reside in nursing homes for many years.

"A lot of the younger people are there for a short term to stabilize so they can live on their own again," he says.

"They're not just coming there to die. They're coming there to live, and, hopefully, achieve a higher quality of life. That's not how people saw nursing homes 20 years ago."

Hagedorn's lengthy list of ailments include chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic asthma.

"My major problems are my lungs," she says, adjusting the tube that connects her to an oxygen tank. "I smoked for over 30 years. I started when I was 13 and, over the years, progressed to almost three packs a day."

She also believes inhaling volcanic ash when Mount St. Helens erupted and working at a fertilizer plant may have caused some damage.

Her chronic health problems forced her to stop working about six years ago. It was when she began having trouble managing her pain medication that she had to leave her apartment in Lewiston.

"My doctor said I had to go to assisted living or a nursing home or find a new doctor. I ended up in the hospital way too much. I was on a lot of pain pills and I was overdosing myself. I agreed, as long as I could take some of my hobbies, my TV and VCR and my cat."

She was living alone in low-income housing when she moved to Orchards, and most of her belongings were sold at a yard sale. Choking back a sob, Hagedorn says she had to leave her cat with a neighbor.

"My cat and my computer were my best friends at the time. It seems like I got sick and my friends just disappeared."

She doesn't sit in the blue recliner in her room because it brings back too many memories of what her life used to be like. "It was me, my blanket and cat all snuggled up. I would rather be home in my own place."

Hagedorn, who is single, has been married three times and has three children and four grandchildren. Her oldest daughter, Christina Erb of Lewiston, visits at least once a week.

"It's hard knowing she's 45 and has to live with older folks and doesn't have anyone her age to socialize with," Erb says. "In the other sense, it's a relief to me knowing she's there getting proper care and has someone with her 24 hours a day. She was unable to live on her own with no one to monitor her meds."